Is Your Brain Like A Muscle?

Can The Brain Improve With Exercise?

A New York magazine story, published by Pro Bronson, detailed an experiment where a teacher was able to improve math scores by having children read aloud a scientific paper on how the brain is like a muscle that responds to exercise.

The knowledge of this opportunity encouraged students to work harder, and a new, improved trend was established.

In another world, far away, in the world of neuroscience, the idea that the brain is like a muscle has received a great deal of attention since the famous ferret experiment in 2000, which proved that the brain is essentially a tissue-like muscle that can be activated for any purpose.   This is brain plasticity.

The obvious implication is that the brain is like a muscle — new tissue is available for a specific task if that task is exercised correctly. It is known, for instance, that violinists have much more brain activity related to the movement of their fretboard-fingering hand. The accuracy and speed required for this exacting task are met by the brain devoting more resources to developing skills beyond what is needed for normal function.

The Opportunity Of Brain “Muscle”

IQ is not strictly “fixed” — a majority of children will see their IQ scores change by more than 15 points, two to three times in their lives. For most children, these changes are somewhat random, influenced by factors such as good teachers, maturity patterns, and environmental factors.

But for a growing group of families who have researched brain training programs and are constantly aware of the cognitive impacts (good and bad) of their child’s activities — e.g., generally, musical instruments are good, video games are bad —  the opportunity to impact the way a child learns through brain exercise is very real.

Brain Fitness Programs

Consequently, brain fitness is one of the fastest-growing areas in educational programs for children and adults.

Any improvement in cognitive skills will translate into changes in IQ scores, as it impacts processing speed, working memory, attention, and other skills that directly improve test-taking and, therefore, IQ scores.

In fact, some school districts use an IQ measure to track the impact of Fast ForWord, the brain training software we provide to families at home. The changes in IQ have been quite dramatic in many cases, as seen in this brain research on Fast ForWord. And yet, Fast ForWord, launched 14 years ago, remains one of only a handful of programs or software that exploit this opportunity to train the brain.

As we stand today, the main difference between brain and body muscle is not how they respond to exercise, but rather how much we know about the kinds of exercises that will be effective. Brain function is integrated, so deliberate changes can be challenging to generate. Body muscle is separated, and the path to increased speed, strength, or skill is more clear-cut.

Arguably, however, the gains from brain fitness exercises, while more elusive, are more profound — cognitive gains change lives — and so we expect of the next 1-2 decades a sharp escalation in brain fitness programs.

About Gemm Learning

Gemm Learning provides Fast ForWord learning and reading software at home with remote oversight in the US and Canada.