Values of Short-Term Memory and Learning Performance Testing
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Values of Short-Term Memory and Learning Performance Testing |
| About
Your
Brain
and
BrainLane.net
Memory
Testing |
The human brain is the strongest and best developed organ of the body, and it is ironic that it is the least understood. Today, a massive research and technological development effort is gathering new knowledge about the brain - and, BrainLane.net is committed to distributing new findings to the population and professional care givers.
Memory Tests are discussed at the 156th
Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatry AssociationBrainlane.net is positioned to assist individuals as well as researchers and care givers in the delivery of memory testing, access to clinical testing/diagnostic service providers, and proactively support public and industry advocacy programs.
The backbone of these services is a robust Internet Broadcasting Network - that is currently providing doctor's offices, clinics, research projects and departments of hospitals or universities with HIPAA (all personal medical information and the building of medical records is now federally regulated) online electronic medical record (EMR) and practice marketing/administration services.
Within the network, operations, sponsors, and affiliated memory testing organizations can present the latest findings and services offered to visitors as well as form professional communities and research project support groups.
The primary goals of the BrainLane.net operations is to increase public awareness regarding memory, memory disorders and the vital role memory testing plays in the early diagnosis of serious disorders or disease. These activities all can play a role in an individual's personal quest to live a healthy, disease free life. They also add the strength of community and collaboration to the industry and professionals who have built the memory testing industry and now offer services to the medical/care giving environments.
The visitor will find direct connection with the leaders of a dynamic community. It is inevitable that memory fitness monitoring will become a standard if not required component of the average person's medical record. There is no longer a question about the importance of early cognitive function decrements and/or the reduction in short-term memory and learning performance capacities that occur - prior to more severe mental/physical disorders. As doctors become more and more familiar with the available testing procedures - some inexpensive and accessible to the online public - they should rely on these valuable tools in making assessment or screening for early signs of mild cognitive impairment.
It is now known that reductions in a person's ability to learn and remember recent events - that is the short-term memory and learning performance capacity - occur before most ailments. Indeed, fatigue and disruptive body chemistry shifts can cause them also. In the case of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease - mild cognitive impairment is the early signature and a critical time to detect the disease.
Two testing services are available directly through the BrainLane.net community:
- Personal Memory Fitness programs allow individuals to establish their Baseline (normal) memory fitness.
- Clinical Memory Monitoring and Treatment Support Services allow individuals, researchers and doctors to use the "snapshots" of their BrainLane tests to monitor cognitive function and memory fitness.
About the BrainLane.net memory tests:
Today, researchers and cognitive reasoning engineers have developed interactive tests that provide a "snapshot" of the brain's short-term memory and learning ability. These same "tests" can be configured to challenge and build the brain's ability to remember and learn - a sort of mental gymnasium. They allow the individual, by playing a simple video game like test over a period of time - to establish their baseline (normal) memory fitness. The medical community now recognizes that there are many situations in early disease screening, treatment response and disease recovery - where regular recording of an individual's memory fitness "score" being compared to that same individual's normal baseline memory performance - could provide valuable assessment in the individual's personal health. It is a similar to the historical record a dentist maintains with x-ray images. In this case, the individual's scores from past tests are kept presented as a graphic report - easily showing if a score is lower than expected. Now, anyone can monitor their personal mental/memory fitness - tracking the increases in memory powers or standing guard for any early signs of a memory disorder.
Return to BrainLane.net Daily Page Go To Demo of Memory Test
1. How does nurturing and exercising your brain work?
The BrainLane.net concept is to:
- Provide a "hub" for the memory testing industry - You see, there has never been an accessible and/or effective way to capture snapshots of the brain's short term memory and learning performance capacity in day-to-day living or in the clinical treatment support situations.
- Now, BrainLane.net Memory Fitness Monitoring Center does produce those snapshots every day. This technological advancement makes it possible for each online citizen to monitor their brain's speed and strength in a fun, inexpensive way.
The Memory, Having It and Losing It
Recently, it has been proven that the brain is the strongest, longest lived organ of the human body. It is virtually impossible to wear out a human brain - it usually rusts out or is ruined by a degenerative disease like Alzheimer's. When we are young, our brain works 24/7/365 and is constantly processing stimuli, data, sensations that it converts into memories. Contrary to popular belief - all of our brains are accessible to us - not just 10%. Mind Sports - the sport of memory fitness - has champions. The world champ was 42 when he remembered the order of 18 decks of playing cards - exposed to him in less than an hour and he repeated them back without an error!
You can exercise your brain to Olympic levels - or just monitor normal health. Either way - establishing your normal performance capacity and monitoring for memory disorders is a good way to protect and preserve your general health.
The Nurtured Brain
Our brains work 24/7/365 - controlling our involuntary, conscience and sub conscience activities of life. It never gets tired and there seems to be no end to the brain's ability to learn and remember things. It is much more than the world's greatest super computer - and each of us has one.
To nurture means to feed, care for, provide the best of conditions for health and growth. Have you done that for your brain? Most of us come from cultural backgrounds that focus on fashion, material things and not-so-nutritional food/diet habits. Your lifestyle, diet, physical and mental exercise habits all combine to determine the health of your brain.
Regarding Alzheimer's disease - the brain is the battleground and the conditions of the disease process seem to start early in life. Habits like smoking and drinking place certain strains and chemical conditions in the brain that increase that brain's chances of developing Alzheimer's. A lifestyle of high blood pressure, diets of high fatty acid content and high sugar intake - all increase the likelihood of that brain's developing Alzheimer's.
There is unquestionable evidence that the careful management of nutritional and dietary supplements have rewards - one of these being reduced risks of developing Alzheimer's. One of the driving forces of the End Alzheimer's 2012 Task Force and the End Alzheimer's Life Plan Demonstration Project is to finally form a control group - who have been living a disease-free lifestyle. It is hoped that as many as 5000 individuals can be found - all volunteering to continue living their lifestyle - adding suggested dietary/nutritional supplements and monitoring their physical and mental fitness. The value of the project will be incredible.
The Well Exercised Brain
It seems that each of use gets a standard issue brain - that we can do incredible things with.
The things our brains have in common far outweigh the unique properties found in some rare brains.
It is the similarities found in diseased brains - that illustrate the damages poor nutrition and lack of mental fitness (exercise) can do to the brain. For instance, people with higher levels of education - have a lower incident of Alzheimer's. This illustrates that a brain that has had more exercise - learned more - has a better mental fitness. However, it is the lifestyle of the individual that controls the brain's activity and just having a higher degree from an academic institution is no insurance of mental health.
A student exercises their short-term memory - studying a topic, word or list of words and "learns" from the studies. This process is repeated day in and day out by every active person. Many people never understand they are "learning" all the time - just like a student in college.
Each time you drive your car into the garage - you are learning if something has changed or not. Each time you are taking a sip of coffee - you are learning if it is too hot to swallow. In each situation we encounter; the brain records stimulation, processes the data, and directs our minds/bodies in the actions we will take - all forming some sort of memory.
"All and all, we are what we remember. "
A healthy brain - can remember a lot. And that gives each of us almost unlimited potential.
Anyone with average intelligence can raise to great heights - if they apply themselves, live right, learn right and take good care of the brain and body.
There is no shortage of opportunity for mental exercise. Reading, learning, writing, debating, doing crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, attending classes, even working out in a mental gym........a mental gym - now there's a concept.
At the iBHEALTH Memory Fitness Monitoring Center, individuals can create their personal brain training, short-term memory and learning performance "baseline" records. The baseline method is well established - like the x-rays you and your dentist use to record your dental conditions.
The BrainLane.net Memory Fitness Monitoring Center
In the center of the Brainlane.net Memory Fitness Monitoring Center. The center contains a very powerful and unique, online short-term memory and learning performance test platform. For a low annual fee, the individual opens a personal memory performance baseline account - like subscribing to an online video arcade - because taking the test is like playing a short, simple video game.
The memory test consists of a series of images - pictures of items you might find around the house or at a garage sale. The object is to look at the pictures as they come up in the test - remembering what you have seen - and if one is repeated - depress the space bar on the computer. Sounds simple doesn't it? If you have a healthy brain - it is simple.
If the test is too easy, adjustments can be made to add images and/or shorten the time each picture is displayed. The test itself can be "tuned" to extreme measures and in fact, creates the "mind-building" training camp for Mind Sports
Taking the test one time doesn't produce anything of value - but taking it several times over a period of time - creates the baseline of an individual's short-term memory and learning performance fitness.
If and when the individual takes the test, and their performance falls significantly below their baseline - something could be wrong. It may be that they were having a bad day. They could be tired and suffering from fatigue, a reaction to a new prescription drug. They could be recovering from surgery or hung over. They could be developing mild cognitive impairment and that could lead to Alzheimer's.
In any event, their brain is trying to tell them something and they should take the test results to their doctors immediately.
Because your brain has the capacity to be exercised 24/7/365 - it could be said that you have to work pretty hard not to exercise it. But there are quality and quantity issues at hand. First of all, just being awake and functioning doesn't necessarily "stimulate" the brain. The brain needs to "think", "learn", "study". "decide", "create" - not just function - to be exercise in a healthy way.
It appears that things like reading, studying, writing or creating really stimulate the brain and generate higher levels of memory capacity.
Many Alzheimer's care givers have reported that victims of Alzheimer's often are most comfortable when they are painting, or working simple crafts - indicating that even the restricted brain still finds stimulation from these things.
It is never too late to begin regimented brain exercise. Reading about a specific place, studying a foreign language or picking up a new skill - all stimulate the brain and may help prevent Alzheimer's. There are interesting trends in the senior citizen population in this area and it will be interesting to track them. Until recently, senior citizen communities were judged by the size and quality of the golf courses within the community - in 2002, it was recognized that senior citizens were the fastest growing demographic group for online Internet browsers - and they judged the quality of their communities in terms of computer classes or online training and connectivity speeds.
The point in all of this is that individual's make choices all their lives regarding what they will and will not learn - meaning they live a life of mental activity or not.
Think of your brain as a star athlete on a team of star athletes you are coaching. You know the game, the league, the competing teams, and, with effort - your team can do all right. As a coach, you need to get close to each of the athletes - learning what motivates them; where they are strong and where they are weak.
This takes time, in life years, but eventually you reach a decision - you are going to train the team - building each of their individual strengths into things the others can rely on. You design individual work-out, diet and training camp exercises for everyone; and you monitor individual progress. Several weeks before game day, you test the team - watching for the areas that work together and those that don't.
It is usually somewhere in that process that you know how far the team will go. They are either headed to the Super Bowl - or the showers.
In the case of your brain - you don't reach that point. Here is an athlete that just keeps running - learning. It never shows up late for practice. It works with you with intuitive graces and literally has a mind of its own. In the end, this is a case where the coach underestimates the athlete and the full potentials of the team aren't developed.
Think about something you do everyday. Let's say reading. If you had "coached" your brain to read more words per minute when you were ten years old - let's say three times the word rate you read now (this isn't hard for the brain to do with the right coaching) - think of the number of days you might have saved - time you could have used doing other things - and still read and learned all the things you now know.
It is important to "push" your brain - building its ability to learn and remember to the highest degree you can. If you do, you will be stimulating your brain and a stimulated brain has a higher ability to prevent Alzheimer's. We don't know exactly how much better - nor do we totally understand why - but it is true.
It is equally important to "test" your brain's memory and learning fitness - because decrements (reductions) to your short term memory and learning performance are serious indications that something is wrong.
If you don't take a consistent form of short-term memory and learning test, you don't have a valid "normal" performance record of these capacities. A memory problem could develop and you would "forget" to seek medical help. This has been the cruelest deception of the Alzheimer's disease process. The victims may be asked by an examining doctor, "How are you?", and the victim answers, "Fine". If in fact, the victim has a memory problem they don't remember it at the time.
Regardless of age, individuals who regularly take a short-term memory and learning performance test can build a baseline record of their performances. This creates a history and should their performances become reduced they have a record to alert themselves with - or the testing program can be set up to alert them and their family or doctors.
Establishing a baseline and regularly testing personal short-term memory and learning performance capacity could save the individual's life. In the case of Alzheimer's - early detection of the disease process saves valuable time in speeding effective treatment to the victim. As mild cognitive impairment is an early signature of the disease process and first shows itself in short term memory decrements - there are effective methods to monitor individual memory fitness and keep a watchful eye on the brain's fitness.
If you or anyone you know is having a reduction in their ability to remember recent events - like where you parked your car - get to your doctor's office as soon as you can.
Here is why -
Our brain's working every moment of our lives - literally learning and remembering everything that makes up "ourselves" - in short we are what we remember. But there are more things we don't remember - or are even aware of - like memory building - that the brain just takes care of for us.
Whatever the memory problem might be - decrements to your ability to remember is serious business - get attention.
It is the area of memory that we take for granted - not even noticing that when we get hung over, have an allergic reaction, develop a brain tumor Alzheimer's - we forget or don't notice that our ability to remember a sequence of images or directions - or even who we had breakfast with or what we had for breakfast - is diminished. The brain is designed to always work and always supply us with answers, movement directions, cognitive thinking - and even when it isn't working at its optimum capacity - it is silent or tells us it is.
We know that Alzheimer's is a degenerative disease. We now have a fairly precise understanding of the disease blueprint and know that feeding, nurturing and conditioning of the brain - could prevent as much as 90% of the disease developing. Armed with this knowledge and a means to track the individual's memory and mental fitness from early in life - the individual could conceivably practice lifestyle habits that "build" the brains defenses against the Alzheimer's process.
This is the foundation of theories supporting the End Alzheimer's Life Plan and demonstration project. If individuals live a lifestyle of disease-free nutrition, regularly take brain healthful supplements and exercise/monitor and track their personal short-term memory and learning capacity (mental fitness) - they will not only gain the advantage of early detection should Alzheimer's start to develop - they may completely prevent the condition from forming.
But - when their short-term memory capacity is diminished - there is a reason and the brain is trying to tell you something. It could be a variety of things - ranging from fatigue to Alzheimer's - but your doctor should help you determine what the message is and what the treatment strategy should be.
It is in the early stages of life where the development of healthful lifestyle habits holds the most promise for preventing disease.
No one know when the disease process actually starts developing in the body. Because it is a degenerative disease - meaning the body's immune systems naturally hold the disease at bay - there reaches a time when the body cannot standup against the process. Researchers believe that the degenerative process is effected by everything in the environment, the individual's diet - caloric and nutritional qualities considered, mental stimulation and body chemistry. Theoretically, the disease process could be working against the brain at early ages - in fact, this is more than likely true. Habits like dietary intakes, smoking, mental and physical exercising - all condition the body - one way or the other. When the conditioning set-up the body's chemistry and health so the disease process makes headway - rest assured the disease will advance.
The iBMEMORY systems allow individuals to establish a record of their personal memory and mental fitness condition. At the simplest of levels, individuals can subscribe to a personal short-term memory and learning performance testing service - taking a simple video-game like "test" - where multiple scores are presented as a series of graphs - illustrating the person's "baseline history" or normal scores for these cognitive reasoning functions. If the individual who has established a baseline record - returns to the testing center and scores below an acceptable range - the program asks them to return and take the tests again.
If the results are consistently low - something is wrong - and they need to take a copy of their baseline record - and consult with their doctors as soon as possible.
There could be several reason why their testing scores are low - but, they are all serious and all qualify for valid reasons to consult with your doctors.
In the case of Alzheimer's -
Alzheimer's is a relentless disease process. It starts with mild cognitive impairment - allowing the victims to live at home or with their families supplying minimal care. As the disease progresses, the need to constant supervision/care eventually arrives.
If the victim has a baseline recording - this is valuable to the doctor's developing treatment strategy because there is a history for the patient. This history gives reliable feedback to the doctor regarding any response the patient may have to drugs, treatment or surgical recovery and ailments that may occur. With the history and continued testing - the doctors and the family of the victim can maintain adequate "snapshots" with the patient's memory/mental health. In the later stages of treatment - these will be the last points of interaction and contact with the victim.
During treatment the doctors can make fine adjustments to the BLT-Ashford Short Term Memory and Learning Performance Testing Platform - setting the throttles of quantities of images, length of image exposures, speed of patient response - literally having the ability to scale the tests precisely to the patient's stage and condition.
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