Brain Training

Valour and Wisdom Brain training philosophy

Using your brain’s ability to change for the better. Valour and Wisdom Brain training exercises are based on the science of “neuroplasticity,” also called “brain plasticity.” Brain plasticity is your brain’s natural ability to remodel itself throughout life. The brain is always changing, sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. What Brain training’s exercises do is harness that change and direct it in ways that can enhance your overall performance and improve the quality of your life.

Given that the brain is the most complex machine on earth, this is no simple task for a brain plasticity researcher. Posit Science has got help in designing these exercises from more than a hundred world experts in this science. Each brings his or her own unique scientific expertise to our team. Their contributions have allowed us to develop brain-improving programs for nearly all of the behavioral faculties that can be improved using your neuroplasticity.

Sharpness starts with the senses

Our eyes, ears, and other sensory organs constantly send information to the brain. Our brains use this information to construct our experiences and memories, from the magnificent—a loved one’s face, a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, a wedding proposal—to the mundane—an acquaintance’s name, a grocery list, a drive to a nearby store.

The more clearly our brain registers this information, the better we can respond to it and store it, so that we can remember it and use it later. It’s important that your brain does a good job with all of the small details of what you see or hear. Missing those details results in most of the errors and confusion that can limit you—and it’s often impossible to even know what you’re missing. A brain that misses lots of details also naturally slows down quite a lot, so that it has a better chance of not making mistakes. Most importantly, if your brain is fuzzy and imprecise in its most elemental operations, all of its higher operations in thinking and acting will suffer. You can practice them forever, but they just can’t improve very much if you if they must always rely on fuzzy or incomplete information.

Improving your brain’s sharp representation of the details of what you see, hear and feel is a key step in improving your overall brain function.

For this reason, many of Posit Science’s Brain training exercises are designed to increase the quantity of sensory information the brain takes in and improves the quality with which the brain processes and records this information. This improvement has a ripple effect, improving all of the “higher” functions of the brain that work with that information.

Think of it like a tree

Healthy roots able to absorb plentiful nutrients and water make for a stronger trunk, shinier leaves, and more fruit. A Brain training brain exercise strengthens the brain from the roots up. This approach is different from many others, which provide compensatory strategies, teach the brain “tricks” to remember, or drill the brain with memory exercises. Many scientific studies demonstrate that such a focus on caring for the fruit while ignoring the roots has only limited benefits.

Root problems

Throughout life, our brains successfully absorb a lot of information from our senses. But for most of us, including almost everyone over age 40, our brains could do better. When we’re in our 30s, six core trends begin to affect brain function. Over time, these have noticeable impacts on our memory, thinking, and focus. They include:

1. Brightness: “Tired” thinking and acting

Our brain slowly turns down its ‘dimmer switch’ as we get older. It can take longer for us to be sharp in our mornings, and we can often find ourselves having moments of inattention or drowsiness that frustrate our getting the most out of our days. Sleep or rest does not restore our liveliness as well as it used to!

2. Speed: Slower processing

Our brains gradually slow down—but the speed of information coming in from the senses (sights and sounds happening in our lives) does not. Over time, the brain begins to miss many details, making it more difficult to react to and remember what we saw or heard.

3. Accuracy: Missing the details

Like the grooves of an old record, the brain’s pathways often get fuzzier, scratchier, or even distorted. You cannot expect your brain to make a good recording of what is happening when there is so much noise on your sound track, or when your brain’s recording of what you are seeing is so blurred and indistinct.

4. Recognition: Poorer understanding

We have to combine information in special ways to understand and correctly interpret those things we see or hear. Losing the ability to recognize an old friend or misinterpreting their facial expression or intent is a common problem in an older life. Retaining keen abilities to recognize and interpret what we are seeing and hearing are of high importance.

5. Clarity: Interference from a noisy world

In our youth, our brains were astoundingly good at cancelling out all of that noise that comes from the world, or that comes, as a barrage of disruptions, from a worrisome or distracted brain itself. But with age, interference starts to get in the way. This is partly due to a loss in our ability to really concentrate. It’s the true source of a lot of frustration, anxiety and error in an older life.

6. Recording: Poorer ability to control learning, or ‘rise to the occasion’

The brain uses chemicals called neuromodulators to determine what information is important to record and process. With each passing decade, our brains produce fewer neuromodulators. A deficit of neuromodulators hinders the brain’s ability to record new information—in other words, its ability to learn and remember. If you want to continue to grow and flourish, you need learning- and memory-control machinery that is up to the task!

When these trends first begin, we don’t notice problems in the moment because we (unknowingly) use context to fill in what we missed. In other words, we draw on our extensive life experience to “fill in the blanks” and make sense of information that is incomplete. Although this compensatory behavior helps us in the immediate situation, it doesn’t improve the quality of the recording (the memory). As the years pass, the gaps can become too big for context to fill in. When this occurs, it can be hard to catch and respond to the information even at the moment.

Caring for the roots supports generalized benefits

Many of the Brain training exercises are designed to reverse these root problems. Their primary goals are to:

1. Brighten your spirits
2. Speed up brain processing
3. Sharpen processing accuracy
4. Improve fast-recognition abilities
5. Knock down the disrupting noises that disrupt your attention, sensory accuracy and memory.
6. Recovery the power of the brain machinery that controls how well you learn and how much your remember

The Brain training roots-up approach emphasizes “generalization,” or the extension of benefits beyond the trained task. Here’s an example: Using a program in which you practice remembering a grocery list may help you get better at remembering grocery lists. With Brain training, you may never practice grocery lists. By exercising the roots of memory, however, you will likely find that not only can you remember grocery lists better, you can also remember conversations with your neighbor, tasks at work, a movie you saw over the weekend, that word that is on the tip of your tongue and where you left your keys. These “generalized” changes are what improve quality of life.

METHODOLOGY

BRAIN AGE ASSESSMENT/TESTS

PROGRAMS

BASIC BRAIN DEVELOPMENT TRAINING

 

Course details

Course Duration: 10 Terms of 3 months each

One class per week (2hours on weekends)

MEMORY GYM

Names for Faces: See if you can remember who is who!

Flashing Numbers: Random numbers automatically generated and flashed at you! Can you remember them all?

Spoken Numbers: Audio will speak , you will store them! How many can you store in your head?

Flashing Cards: Keep practicing this one and you’ll be able to memorise a pack of playing cards!

Flashing Random Words (English): If you can master this, you’ll be able to do your shopping without a list written on paper!

Count The Dots: See how fast you can count the dots!

Fun Brain Teasers Our brains can do amazing things—but in the right circumstances, they can also fool us. Try the brain tricks and teasers below and find out what’s going on in the brain in each one.

ENJOYING A FASTER AND SHARPER BRAIN

People who regularly train with Brain training often see tremendous benefits in their lives. We’ve heard stories from all kinds of people about how Brain training has done everything from improving their bowling game, to enabling them to get a job, to reviving their creativity, to helping them recover after an injury, to making them feel more confident about their future. What could you do with a sharper brain?

BRAIN EXERCISES

Brain Reflection Test

This is a simple but effective exercise to test the reflection of your brain, the faster the better, try to get a score of 0.20 second on the first brain reflection test, also there is a second Reflex Test, try to get 58 points in that one, If you do achieve these two goals then you’re very fast, and we should congratulate you!

Brain Creativity

Being creative is a good thing; in fact it’s essential if we want to make our life better. Stimulating areas of your brain is a healthy process, in this page we will try to wake up (if dormant) the brain creativity potential, Silver Sphere has 25 levels, let’s see how far you could go.

Memory Test

Here you will be able to test your memory, testing it will help you improve it, this game stimulates many areas in your brain responsible for storing and retrieving information, you will be enhancing your memory while still having fun. You can also check this memory game which will check your ability of remembering faces and images. It’s a classic game but effective.

Brain Stretching

Tower of Hanoi is one way to stretch your brain; the objective is moving a number of disks from one pole/peg to another in a certain way. You will have to make an effort to arrange the disks the right way, and that in itself is a good exercise that can stretch your brain when playing.

Sudoku Brain Stimulation

Here you can either play Sudoku, or solve an already existing Sudoku puzzle that you have, a very nice strategy game and one of the fastest growing games of the 21 century, simple but is considered to be a good brain stimulation and training.

Spatial Intelligence

This is about Rubik’s Cube puzzle, a very challenging game, which can stimulate many parts of your brain that you usually don’t stimulate, including visual memory and spatial intelligence.

Math Problems

It’s nice to be an athlete, but certainly it’s super nice to be a “Mathlete”. Well this is your chance. This is not complicated Math Problems, in fact it’s a very easy test, however, the point is not just to solve the questions provided, but to solve as many questions as possible in a short time, a very good score would be 21 points in this exercise.

Brain Concentration

This brain concentration game is a little bit hard, but that’s the point, the harder the game the more stimulation you get, this can help you gain the ability to concentrate better. The game depends on the level you choose, you can start with the lowest level and as you learn the rules of the game you can pick higher levels in this concentration game.

Arrange Game

This arrange game is about being able to arrange the numbers in the right order in a very short time, this game depends on the level you choose, it’s a classic simple game, but a very effective exercise. Have fun and good luck!

Cognitive Training

This training is a lot of fun and simple but can help your cognitive and prediction sense along with your reflection skills, a good player would be someone who predicts well where the exact spot that the ball would hit and therefore have a fast reaction to be in the right spot, a good score is 2 points different than your opponent (which is the computer in this case). Cognitive training game cannot be played with a touch-pad, because your reaction is way slower than a mouse when using a touch-pad. So if you have a laptop you might get a mouse to play this game.

IQ Booster

There are three free chess games that can help you improve your intelligence, you can play a chess game which is simply the best strategy game. Also, this second Strategy Game called 8 Queens, and finally another brain game called Chess Knight.

These are very good workouts, chess can help you gain the ability of good thinking and making creative strategies, if you don’t know how to play chess, then either check for the rules online before playing, or just jump to the next game.

Finally you can find an intelligence definition, an IQ definition or take our free IQ Test if you want, please note that the tests are just for brain training purposes and don’t determine your actual level. Some games can be addictive so play responsibly.

PUZZELS

There are nine puzzles in Training mode:

1. Calculations X 20 which is the same as the one found in the Brain Age Check. One question will appear on the top screen, and the player must hand-write the answer on the touch screen. There are a total of 20 questions, including addition, subtraction, and multiplication.
2. Calculations X 100, which is the same as Calculations X 20, although with 100 questions instead of 20. It features a hard mode, which has the same mechanics but adds division problems.
3. Reading Aloud, which gives the player an excerpt from a classic story such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or Little Women, and tasks the player with reading the story aloud to see how quickly he or she can do it. The player progresses through the excerpt by pushing Next, until he or she reaches the end of the excerpt. If the player pushes Next too quickly, the puzzle will end prematurely.
4. Low to High features several boxes on both screens, each in the same pattern as each other. The game will count down at varying speeds, and when it hits zero, numbers will appear in these boxes for a short period of time. Afterwards, the player must touch the boxes on the touch screen from lowest number to highest by memorizing the numbers on the top screen. Afterwards, the game will introduce one puzzle after the other in a similar fashion. The quantity of boxes to memorize increases after each correct answer, and decreases after each incorrect answer, with the minimum quantity of boxes being four.
5. Syllable Count shows several phrases, one after the other, on the top screen, and the player must write the number of syllables in each phrase on the touch screen.
6. Head Count features a group of people on the top screen (e.g. 4). After a few seconds to allow the player to count the number of people, a house falls over them. The player must watch the screen carefully, as the people inside will leave the house and more people will enter the house. This will eventually cease, and the game asks the player to write down how many people are currently in the house. The puzzle gets more difficult as the player progresses in it. There is also a hard mode in which people also come in and out of the chimney.
7. Triangle Math has a series of mathematical equations that the player must solve. It is designed similarly to the Calculation puzzles, in that the equation appears on one screen, and the player writes the answer on the touch screen. The equations involve three numbers and two mathematical operations (e.g., 3 + 4 + 8 or 3 − 4 + 8), and are solved by performing the first operation, and then the second. This also features a hard mode where an extra tier is added to the triangle.
8. Time Lapse displays two analog clocks (e.g. one at 2:45 and one at 7:30), and requires the player to calculate the difference in time between these clocks.
9. Voice Calculation, which is similar to the Calculations puzzles. However, this puzzle requires the player to speak the correct answer into the microphone instead of write it on the touch screen, similar to the Stroop Test.

QUICK PLAY

Quick Play can be played by anyone, whether he or she has a saved file or not. Quick Play allows the player to play three modes – Quick Brain Age Check, Quick Training, and Quick Sudoku, all only providing the player with one of the easy puzzles in each of these modes to try. Quick Brain Age Check only allows the player to play the stroop test. In Quick Training, the game only allows the player to play Calculations X 20. And in Quick Sudoku, the play may only play the easiest Sudoku puzzle available. At the end of each session, the player’s brain age or time will be assessed, and trainer will give a preview of the full game.

BRAIN TRAINING INFORMATION AND FACTS

Types of Memory

Memory actually takes many different forms. We know that when we store a memory, we are storing information. But, what that information is and how long we retain it determines what type of memory it is. The biggest categories of memory are short-term memory (or working memory) and long-term memory, based on the amount of time the memory is stored. Both can weaken due to age, or a variety of other reasons and clinical conditions that affect memory.

Memory Types

There are two major categories of memory: long-term memory and short-term memory. To learn more, choose from the options below.

Long-Term Memory

Long-term memory is our brain’s system for storing, managing, and retrieving information. Learn more about it.

Short-Term Memory

Closely related to “working” memory, short-term memory is the very short time that you keep something in mind before either dismissing it or transferring it to long-term memory.

Types of Long-Term Memory

As you would imagine, long-term memories are much more complex than short-term ones. We store different types of information (procedures, life experiences, language, etc.) with separate memory systems.

Explicit Memory

Explicit memory, or declarative memory, is a type of long-term memory requiring conscious thought. It’s what most people have in mind when they think of a memory.

Implicit Memory

Implicit memory is a major form of long-term memory that does not require conscious thought. It allows you to do things by rote.

Autobiographical Memory

Most of us have one part of life that we remember better than others. Find out if you have a “memory bump”!

Memory & Morpheus

Researchers have come to believe slumber actively helps our brains consolidate what we learn and remember. Can sleep hurt or help memory?

If you would like to improve your memory, try Brain training. A large study conducted by scientists at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Southern California showed that using Brain training exercises improved memory by an average of 10+ years.