Unbelievable for some, but true:  Apparent smarts makes men more attractive in women’s eyes!

Scientists from Elon University  conducted a study on female  students, asking them to choose the most desirable males from videos showing them accomplishing athletic and cognitive tasks. It turned out that the women picked those men who appeared the most intelligent!  It makes for very interesting reading here…

Is it true? What do you think?

Some time back I wrote about the cognitive skills necessary for safe driving.  It’s ever more clear that abilities such as vision, reaction times, attention, judgment and ability to multitask, that is, to focus on more than one task at a time are all essential to our ability to be safe on the road. As we age, our brains do change, and one of the normal changes is that our ability to multitask decreases.  Elderly drivers need to pay attention on the road and not use the phone—especially dialing numbers. (This is  true for younger drivers as well, but is a much harder sell, I’m afraid). This month, the Dana Foundation summarizes some recent articles on this topic that’s worth a read here.

A new controlled study using HAPPYneuron exercises has been launched at the prestigious University of Zurich, Institute of Psychology, Switzerland under the supervision of Dr. Anne Echen. The goal of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of episodic memory training consisting of personalized adaptive computer exercises. 40 subjects between the ages of 60 and 70 will participate in the study. The first results are expected to be available in the Fall of 2009. We’ll keep you posted of the results as they become available from the study team. At that time you’ll find the results posted on our research listing pages.

The globalization of business, advances in technology, and the new knowledge economy are transforming our jobs and how we do them. Learning on the job isn’t a luxury these days; it’s absolutely necessary. And that is where your brain at work comes in.

Want to know why programing your Blackberry should be a challenge and not a punishment? Why constantly learning new things will help you learn better over time? What time of day your brain is most likely to keep new information? Why is learning on the job is beneficial for everyone?

The Dana Foundation has launched a new website - Your Brain at Work - that connects the latest research to practical suggestions for working, and living, smarter - on an off the job. Check it out.

Do you have trouble remembering things? Of course, working on memory strategies can help a lot. But what if you even forget to do your memory workout? Now, with the new “Workout Reminders” feature, you can tell the HAPPYneuron Coach to email your personalized workout on a schedule that suits you.  You may never forget your brain workout again!

To schedule your workout reminder, Login and click “My Workout Reminders”. You can select as many days a week as you like and any type of workout. Of course, to be sure you receive your reminders, you may need to make coach@happy-neuron.com a ’safe recipient’ in your email program. The FAQ can tell you how for your particular email program.

As always, to see sustainable cognitive improvements, workouts are recommended up to 45 minutes, 3 times per week and continue for 10+ weeks. Staying on track with your cognitive workout program just got little easier.

Don’t forget to tell us if you like the feature.

The Cognitive Progress graphs have been upgraded this week, showing more of your  progressive improvements since the beginning of your cognitive training with HAPPYneuron.

There are six progress charts – one showing your overall HAPPYneuron Performance Index (HPI) progress, and one for each of your cognitive functions of Memory, Language, Attention, Visual-Spatial skills and Executive Function. As always, you can drill down for more detailed information in each area. Check it out and give us your comments.

Now, according to a study published on April 3 in the journal Science, researchers from University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health found more evidence that sleep resets the brain to allow more growth and learning the next day.  Read about their fascinating research here. So get a good night’s sleep - your brain will thank you for it.

As baby boomers approach retirement age, the field of cognitive fitness has begun to gain more prominence. In this interview with health blogger, David William, I speak about the magnitude of the economic impact of Alzheimer’s and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), the strategies that can be used to slow mental decline, and how HAPPYneuron is helping to educate the industry. Read here or Listen here….

Cognitive capabilities are important to strengthen for continued safe driving as we age. In recent years, state-sponsored research in Maryland has shown that if a driver fails a cognitive test, he is 25 percent more likely to be involved in a crash. That’s quite an statistic.

The good news is that the cognitive abilities important to driving can be prolonged and even rehabilitated even if they are in decline. The brain gets lulled by routine, which does little to stimulate new cell growth. But challenged to adjust to new locales and situations, cognitive abilities can recover.

If older drivers are healthier and more alert, they may be driving differently, to different places and have different travel patterns, such as spending more time on highways, which are the “safest types of roads for them” according to the auto insurance industry.

Here’s a reminder of the cognitive skills required for driving:

• The motor skill of driving requires co-ordination
• Analysis of the street and highway environment requires good shape perception, visuo-spatial analysis, visual and selective attention skills
• Awareness and monitoring of the traffic patterns and situations involves executive functions.

So keep up your structured cognitive cross training routine and you’ll be a safer driver.