Attention

Published Research on BrainHQ and Attention

The ability to focus your attention on what matters—and equally important, to ignore what doesn’t—is even more important than you might think. When you can focus your attention on a conversation (while filtering out distracting background noise) and on the visual world around you (so you can quickly spot what you need and dismiss what you don’t), it helps you feel sharp, connected, and on top. What’s more, focusing your attention helps your brain pump chemicals that improve learning and memory.

It’s essential that your brain decide what it notices, learns, and remembers, and what it can let go. For example, if you’re taking a Spanish class, you want to be able to focus on what the teacher tells you so you can respond to it and learn it. You don’t want the distracting conversation other students are having next to you to prevent you from learning what the teachers says, nor do you have any need to remember that conversation. Focusing your attention is essential for success in the class.

Multiple papers on BrainHQ exercises have now shown that training with BrainHQ can improve attention, both by helping you focus and by helping you filter out what doesn’t matter to you. Among other things, these studies have shown that using certain BrainHQ exercises can:

 

  • Drive improvements in people’s ability to notice targets in their peripheral vision
  • Enhance people’s ability to focus on relevant information while ignoring distractions
  • Significantly change brain activation in regions relevant to behavior in ways that improve selective visual attention (shifting and re-orienting the focus of attention)

 

Information and citations for research on the effects of BrainHQ exercises on attention

In general, these studies were conducted in cognitively healthy adults aged 65 and older, and in some cases, aged 50 and older. Remember that studies show average results, and that individual results will vary. Where published studies make reference to clinical populations, it is for informational purposes only. BrainHQ is not intended to diagnose or treat any clinical condition.

 

Neural plastic effects of cognitive training on aging brain
Leung et al. (2015)
Neural Plasticity
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Neural plasticity underlying visual perceptual learning in aging
Mishra et al. (2015)
Brain Research
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Cognitive training and selective attention in the aging brain: An electrophysiological study
O’Brien et al. (2013)
Clinical Neurophysiology
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The neural correlates of an expanded functional field of view
Scalf et al. (2007)
Journals of Gerontology, Series B
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The Accelerate Study: The longitudinal effect of speed of processing training on cognitive performance of older adults
Vance et al. (2007)
Rehabilitation Psychology
View abstract