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Mark Ashton Smith, Ph.D

About Mark Ashton Smith, Ph.D

I am a cognitive scientist with a joint Ph.D in cognitive psychology and neuroscience from the Center of the Neural Basis of Cognition (Carnegie Mellon/Pittsburgh). At IQ Mindware we develop brain training interventions to increase IQ, critical thinking, decision making, creativity and executive functioning.

Stroop N-Back, Interference Control and Emotion Regulation

In a study published last week (Oct 28, 2015) by Cohen and his colleagues in the journal Neuroimage, it has been shown that training on an implementation of HighIQPro’s ‘Stroop’ n-back game can  can reduce the brain’s emotional reactivity by changing the brain’s wiring to make it less responsive to threatening information. The principle of this brain training game is interference control.   What is interference control? When distracting information conflicts with the task requirements, as shown here there

IQ Increase Success Story. When Brain Training Works.

When Brain Training Works and When It Does Not There are thousands of brain training apps and games on the market, and some multi-billion dollar brain training providers. The key problem is how to filter through them and commit to training with those that work. Here we review what criteria to look at to ensure that your brain training works. An authoritative study published in the scientific journal Nature has recently shown that the

The Definitive Guide to Fasting, Exercise and Brain Training

The definitive guide to fasting, exercise and brain training for improved health, immunity and brain fitness. Harnessing the adaptive cellular stress response. This extensive article provides a foundation for understanding why long-term caloric restriction (fasting), exercise and working-memory based brain training all promote health, immunity and physical and mental performance, in a way that is complementary – sharing the same biological adaptive stress response. Energetic Stressors in Evolution In the environments of our distant ancestors, food was often scarce, and energy

Does Lumosity Brain Training Work?

Lumosity is popular, but its benefits are very limited. This article explains why. In recent years, brain training has become a multimillion-pound business with companies such as Lumosity and Nintendo developing a wide range of user-friendly ‘brain games’ for the average punter. Lumosity, co-founded by Michael Scanlon after he abandoned his neuroscience PhD at Stanford University, California,  has grown by 150% year-on-year since its launch in 2005 and now reaches millions of people worldwide. It is a major player

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