Digital mental health intervention by the World Health Organization (WHO) found to lower anxiety and depression, with improvements maintained at 3 ‑month follow-up
Conclusions: In this study, we found that a guided, digital intervention was effective in reducing depression in displaced people in Lebanon. The guided WHO Step-by-Step intervention we examined should be made available to communities of displaced people that have digital access.
The Study in Context:
Headspace Health acquires AI-driven digital mental health start-up Sayana
The landscape of digital mental health apps: huge unmet needs, quality concerns, app stores asked to ensure transparency
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) shares discussion paper to help empower 8 billion minds via the ethical adoption of digital...
Source: SharpBrains - July 5, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation anxiety depression digital mental health gratitude exercise mental-disorders positive self-talk post-traumatic stress stress-management well-being Source Type: blogs
Update: Playing videogames may be more cognitively beneficial than other forms of screentime like social media, watching videos/ TV
Welcome to a new edition of SharpBrains’ e‑newsletter, featuring timely brain & mental health news and a fun brain teaser to put your temporal lobes to good use 🙂
#1. Study finds that playing videogames may be more cognitively beneficial for children than other forms of screentime (social media, watching videos/ TV)
“Here, we estimated the impact of different types of screen time (watching, socializing, or gaming) on children’s intelligence while controlling for the confounding effects of genetic differences in cognition and socioeconomic status … Broadly, our results are in line with research on the malle...
Source: SharpBrains - June 30, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning Technology & Innovation anxiety brain health brain-teaser chronic pain cognition cognitive cognitive-functioning Cognitive-tests Cognitive-Training depression emotion FDA men Source Type: blogs
Please help us recruit 30,000 adults for a UC Citizen Science project on cognitive training
Wordcloud derived from the two papers referenced in this blog (by Susanne Jaeggi & Aaron Seitz)
How can we cut through the controversies around brain training and unlock the exciting potential as suggested by the numerous published studies showing examples of cognitive training benefits?
Our approach is to use larger, more representative datasets to uncover the most relevant ingredients that may work across different intervention types, illustrating how their impact may vary across the diverse range of individuals participating in such large trials.
While most studies focus on the average participant, our latest paper ...
Source: SharpBrains - June 28, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Susanne Jaeggi, Anja Pahor, Aaron Seitz at UC Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning Technology & Innovation Brain Game Center brain training Brain-games cognitive-functioning Cognitive-Training near transfer personalization Source Type: blogs
Large neuroimaging study finds social isolation to be an early indicator of increased dementia risk
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
To Learn More:
The neuroscience behind why our brains will need time to adjust to ‘un-social distancing’
Can you grow your hippocampus? Yes. Here’s how, and why it matters
Three ways to protect your mental health during –and after– COVID-19
The post Large neuroimaging study finds social isolation to be an early indicator of increased dementia risk appeared first on SharpBrains. (Source: SharpBrains)
Source: SharpBrains - June 23, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Conversation Tags: Brain/ Mental Health brain-structure chronic-stress cognition cognitive cognitive thinking cognitive-reserve cognitive-tasks frontal-lobe hippocampus human-brain memory neuroimaging neuroscience physical-health reaction-time Source Type: blogs
UC study finds near-transfer of cognitive training to be necessary (yet not sufficient) for far-transfer, broader benefits
Guicheng “Ariel” Tan / UCI Working Memory & Plasticity Lab
Who benefits from brain training, and why? (UCI release):
If you are skilled at playing puzzles on your smartphone or tablet, what does it say about how fast you learn new puzzles, or more broadly, how well can you focus in school or at work? In the language of psychologists, does “near transfer” predict “far transfer”?
A team of psychologists from the University of California, Irvine and the University of California, Riverside reports in Nature Human Behavior that people who show near transfer are more likely to show far transfer. For a person skil...
Source: SharpBrains - June 21, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning Peak Performance Technology & Innovation brain training Brain-Plasticity brain-training-games cognitive-abilities far transfer Memory-Training near transfer neuroplasticity puzzles Source Type: blogs
Trend: Esports teams harness cognitive tests to better match player to task and to identify training opportunities
I Took An Esports Brain Test. I’m Not Even Close to Being a Pro Gamer (CNET):
NeurOlympics is a deceptively simple test.
The 60-minute assessment guides people through four uncomplicated video games. One involves remembering disappearing icons. Another is an exercise in rapid reaction time. A person’s performance on the test is then run through an algorithm that evaluates performance in memory, speed and other characteristics.
Team Liquid, a pro esports team with headquarters in California and the Netherlands, thinks NeurOlympics results may hold the key to winning matches in League of Legends, Valorant and more than a...
Source: SharpBrains - June 15, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Peak Performance Technology & Innovation brain--test Cognitive-Training intelligence NeurOlympics NeuroTracker situational awareness video-games Wonderlic test Source Type: blogs
Dos and Don ’ts of Therapy on the Go: Navigating the use of apps for mental health care
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
To Learn More:
From “Eminence-based” to Evidence-based mental healthcare: Time to focus on quality and accountability
“Digital therapeutics” vs. “Mental health apps”: A growing debate on standards, regulation and efficacy
The post Dos and Don’ts of Therapy on the Go: Navigating the use of apps for mental health care appeared first on SharpBrains. (Source: SharpBrains)
Source: SharpBrains - June 13, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Conversation Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation agoraphobia Alma anonymity app-based psychotherapy apps for mental health Better Help depression insurance meditation mental-health-treatment mood trackers privacy social anxiety T Source Type: blogs
Dual decline in gait speed and memory function seen as most predictive of future dementia
Walking Speed Helps Predict Future Dementia (MedPage Today):
Dual decline in gait speed and cognition carried a higher risk of dementia than either gait-only decline or cognitive-only decline, reported Taya Collyer, PhD, of Monash University in Victoria, Australia, and co-authors, in JAMA Network Open…
“Slowing gait and failing memory may be the best combination of clinical measures to identify people at risk of future dementia,” co-author Michele Callisaya, PhD, of the National Center for Healthy Aging at Monash University and Peninsula Health, told MedPage Today.
“By the time a diagnosis of dementia is made, the...
Source: SharpBrains - June 8, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health cognition cognitive decline cognitive measure dementia prevention diagnosis of dementia failing memory gait speed memory-decline pathology risk of dementia slowing gait Source Type: blogs
AI-enabled chatbot Wysa receives FDA Breakthrough Device designation for patients with chronic pain, depression and anxiety
AI Behavior Health Chatbot App Fast-Tracked by FDA (Psychology Today):
Recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted breakthrough device designation to Wysa’s AI-based digital mental health conversational agent that delivers cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) via a smartphone to adults suffering from depression, anxiety, and chronic musculoskeletal pain…
Wysa’s admittance to the FDA Breakthrough Devices Program signifies a giant leap forward for artificial intelligence in the mental health industry. According to the FDA, the designation was supported by a clinical trial that “found Wysa to be more ef...
Source: SharpBrains - June 6, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation anxiety artificial intelligence CBT chronic musculoskeletal pain cognitive-behavioral-therapy depression digital mental health FDA Food and Drug Administration mental health industry sma Source Type: blogs
Study finds that playing videogames may be more cognitively beneficial for children than other forms of screentime (social media, watching videos/ TV)
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
The Study:
The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence while controlling for genetic differences in cognition and socioeconomic background (Scientific Reports). From the Abstract:
Digital media defines modern childhood, but its cognitive effects are unclear and hotly debated. We believe that studies with genetic data could clarify causal claims and correct for the typically unaccounted role of genetic predispositions. Here, we estimated the impact of different types of screen time (watching, socializing, or gaming) on children’s intelligence wh...
Source: SharpBrains - June 1, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Conversation Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation cognition cognitive cognitive-abilities cognitive-development Cognitive-tests Cognitive-Training digital media executive-function flexible thinking free time intelligence Learning le Source Type: blogs
On mental fitness beliefs, lifestyles and new tools like apps, digital therapeutics, virtual reality, “brain age gaps” and more
Welcome to a new edition of SharpBrains’ e‑newsletter, featuring timely brain & mental health news and a fun couple of math brain teasers.
#1. Study on the “ABCs of Mental Health” finds that simply believing you can improve mental wellbeing helps actually improve it
Beliefs matter.
#2. “Digital therapeutics” vs. “Mental health apps”: A growing debate on standards, regulation and efficacy
Definitions matter.
#3. How ’sleeping on it’ can help the prefrontal cortex regulate emotional responses, making us feel better in the morning
Sleep matters.
#4. NICE in the UK issues recommendation for Sleepio app,...
Source: SharpBrains - May 31, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health SharpBrains Monthly eNewsletter Technology & Innovation apps biomarker brain age gaps brain aging biomarker Brain Teasers brain-aging cognitive digital health digital therapeutics mental muscles mental-fitnes Source Type: blogs
How ’sleeping on it’ can help the prefrontal cortex regulate emotional responses, making us feel better in the morning
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
To Learn More:
To manage stress, sleep better. To sleep better, keep a good routine and manage stress.
Six tips to build resilience and prevent brain-damaging stress
NICE in the UK issues recommendation for Sleepio app, the digital cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia by Big Health
The post How ’sleeping on it’ can help the prefrontal cortex regulate emotional responses, making us feel better in the morning appeared first on SharpBrains. (Source: SharpBrains)
Source: SharpBrains - May 26, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Conversation Tags: Brain/ Mental Health anxiety depression Limbic-System prefrontal-cortex sleep on it Stress Source Type: blogs
