The dubious claims of brain training (and what actually works)

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Brain training has gotten a bad rep for saying they prevent Alzheimer’s disease or boost you to 200 IQ. But does that mean you should uninstall all your apps? Well, turns out that not all brain training is created equal. Find out what actually works.
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[@TheVoidSinger]

dunno what happened but I'm seeing huge audio desync on this video of 2-5seconds... not happening elsewhere, just this video

[@xineonster]

Same for me.

[@hajimen7559]

Yeah, me too.

[@neurotransmissions]

YT support was a bit slow, but it should be fixed now!

[@dragoncurveenthusiast]

@@neurotransmissions for me it isn't.

[@QenberQenberov-hy7qg]

hello a website has been created that describes the personal thoughts of a person without interfering with the human body. my thoughts, feelings, personal information, what i hear, and even my own voice (telephone conversations, personal conversations) are broadcast there. this web page takes away my personality, people hear and see everything i say. where can i complain about this website being blocked? is there a penalty for this?

[@akidanis6984]

The audio is desynced by 1300 ms. If anyone needs to know.

[@neurotransmissions]

YT support was a bit slow, but it should be fixed now!

[@dannyhpy_me]

Thanks for the exact delay

[@jfkonlsd1364]

@@neurotransmissionsand a year slater no fix. classic youtube staff . great vid btw

[@RaiseDennis]

@@jfkonlsd1364yes

[@exp2745]

Having played Dr Kawashimas Brain Age religiously as a young child with a DS, when I first heard that the studies on this topic are inconclusive at best, I felt my whole live was a lie... It did help with some of the simple maths I faced in early primary school of course, but that wasn't the promise the games made from the outset.

[@neurotransmissions]

So true. Especially because the game would score you with your supposed brain age, it was selling the idea that it could keep you young, too.

[@ErebosGR]

Essentially, all training is brain training. Learning how to ride a bike won't make you better at playing the piano or vice versa, but learning the piano can help you learn the guitar quicker.

[@ceooflonelinessinc.267]

Yea, essentially beside having a healthy diet, exercise and good sleep. And you need to have discipline to keep things difficult, so whenever you become good at something you need to lean to make it better resp, when you have mastered the guitar you should learn a new instrument.

[@v1kt0u5]

@@ceooflonelinessinc.267 Well, truly MASTERING a complex polyphonic instrument like the piano or the guitar, takes more than 20,000 hours.

[@fiveminutefridays]

Man, I really had a BIG perspective shift that I already knew but hadn't fully internalized fall into place while watching this video. My brain is a part of my body. I can do all the armchair "brain training" I want from the comfort of a couch, and try to improve specific tasks, expand my knowledge base, broaden my horizons, etc. but my brain is a body part, which means it has to be physically taken care of, receive the right nutrition and physical maintenance in order to work at its best. My near-daily walks improve my depression symptoms because I'm getting more sunlight and seeing birds and trees and shit, yes. But its also that my brain is part of my body, so taking care of my body *IS* taking care of my brain. I'm going to tuck away this wisdom in the same place I keep things like "drinking enough water wont cure all your ills, but its just that much more comfortable to experience your ills if you're not also thirsty"

[@Ewr42]

Exercise also has a direct effect on the endocannabinoidome, which links all other physiological complex systems. Endorphins were a hypothesis and they have been refuted by new research that not only proved that endorphins can't cross the blood-brain barrier, but also showed that anesthesia was caused by 2-AG and other CB2 agonizing endocanabinoids(blocking CB2 hindered anaesthesia completely, endorphins did nothing to help(at least on the hot plate pain tolerance test, on mice)) and the "Runner's high" was caused by anandamide, an endogenous agonist of the CB1 receptor, just like THC is. Exercise is actually far more effective than SSRIs to treat depression, but yes, nothing beats a walk *_in nature_* . (Actually, psychedelics might, but it may not be as easy as taking a walk on a park for most people(although that can be a way to hunt for psychedelic mushrooms, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is like adding nature to the exercise. It makes it faaaaar more effective than it already is))

[@griedd]

that lost quote is so true. we should do whatever we can to make our situations better and healthier.

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

Definitely vouching for "trying new hobbies keeps your brain flexible!" And yeah regular moderate exercise definitely helps alleviate SOME inflammation in SOME people - same goes for most of the other "do this to reduce inflammation" tips. But there are so many causes for inflammation that I would have really appreciated an *asterisk in there that most of these aren't one-size-fits-all solutions, and the science behind several of them is still being verified in general. Just like how this video is one huge *asterisk on "brain training apps make you smarter". 😉 We have enough people out there moralizing this like, "oh if you have a chronic illness then that means you're making bad choices, because if you just ate better, exercised, meditated, quit your job, did brain training, etc. then you'd be healthy like me; i am healthy therefore i'm a morally good person who makes Good Choices". This is something that bothers me a lot, as someone with several chronic conditions.

[@MemClem]

That was one of the smoothest ad segues I've ever experienced. Damn

[@TerrinX]

Man I love this channel

[@owaisahmadshah6453]

What do you think about in-person mental arithmetics?

[@PsychoFai]

would you test the NeoRhythm device? You are so far the most scientific reviewer I've seen on KZbin and it would be great to have your opinions on these expensive devices to see which one is legit to help people.

[@ana91591]

What do you think about the latest SciShow video on lion's mane? They suggest that there is some evidence that it works both in rats and humans, but we're not yet sure how exactly

[@Ewr42]

Was it not by increasing BDNF and neuroplasticity? I bet that's at least part of the puzzle Or maybe that's only how the other kind of medicinal mushrooms work

[@MoonMarshmallow]

Seems like im not the only one getting terrible auduio desync here. like 2-3 seconds bad

[@neurotransmissions]

YT support was a bit slow, but it should be fixed now!

[@Ch1pp007]

​@@neurotransmissionsNot for me!

[@charlesbenca5357]

Is it an experimemt to make a video with the sound in desync?

[@mattcofer1522]

What about Neurofeedback therapy? Could you guys do a video on that?

[@stephaneboudreau1088]

Man, I think my visual cortex and auditory cortex are not functioning properly, I think I need some brain training to help.😂

[@jiversteve]

A difficult watch as video and audio are out of sync! Badly out of sync!

[@neurotransmissions]

YT support was a bit slow, but it should be fixed now!

[@toobskuiks116]

Great video though!

[@happyundertaker6255]

Weird audio / video mismatch.

[@neurotransmissions]

YT support was a bit slow, but it should be fixed now!

[@8lec_R]

Ok. Wait a second I often hear you should do cardiovascular exercise for bla bla bla I don't do any running or cycling or swimming or any of the "cardio" exercises due to various reasons (I do want to start again, but that is not the point) But I do weight training and that makes my heart rate elevated. I go quite hard to the point at which after a set I find it very hard to talk. I need to wait 2 minutes before I can speak more than a few words and about 5 minutes before I can have a normal conversation. So while my heart rate is not elevated throughout the session at gym and I don't push hard on all the exercises, is this enough of a cardiovascular workout? I go 5 times a week. Or do I have to jog/cycle for like an hour a week to be able to reap the benefits of cardiovascular exercise

[@Ewr42]

The benefits of cardio come with cardio Weightlifting doesn't work the same muscle fiber types of muscles as does endurance or strength training, It's like wanting hypertrophy by doing just 5reps or 50 reps/set. The running heart also doesn't work the same as the weightlifting heart. Maybe just as hard, but not the same. I think that the breathing pattern is a huge part of it too. The breathing pattern isn't the same, but if you do 50 reps you might be able to make it into cardio, but increase the risk of injury bc you'd need enough of a load to make some resistance, and to go fast enough to breathe faster. Yoga might have similar benefits, but I myself am a calisthenics person(rather was, 4 inguinal hernias ago). Explosive pushups are basically weighted cardio. Hypertrophy based weightlifting won't cut it tho, i think(I'm definitely no expert)

[@8lec_R]

@@Ewr42 interesting. I understand your point. But I think you misunderstood me. I meant health benefits, the basics, like a lower risk of heart disease, better gut health, lower cholesterol, higher chance of living longer etc. Because it pretty common knowledge that one doesn't need to go hard in any kind of exercise to reap 95% of the health benefits. For example, walking 30 mins a day will give you all the benefits of walking, walking more won't help all that much. I can make my resistive training 300% easier by cutting volume and weight and still get pretty much all the health benefits (will loose quite a bit of muscle tho). So that's my question. The basic health benefits. Do I get them without doing cardio. Btw since I've written this comment I've started running once a week. Only been a month and I've already taken 2 weeks off lol

[@Ewr42]

@@8lec_R I'm sure Jeff Nippard has a video on cardio vs. weightlifting where he does in depth about the differences and commonalities and how they measure the benefits of exercise. Glad to hear you're running! Forget a schedule and consistency, do it as much as you can and want to. Doing it in nature has extra psychological(and some physiological too) benefits also, and the environment helps in making you wanna do it again, it creates a more positively rich environment. If you get a "Runner's high"(caused by endo-cannabinoids, not endorphins) when exercising in whatever way you like, i think that'll be enough to harvest most benefits you seek. the endocannabinoidome is at the center of our physiological complex systems, and i believe it is the main player in the self regulation mechanisms that are improved. Definitely related to the gut (that's the -ome that links the endocannabinoid system to our microbiome). I used to get really high off calisthenics, it was the best feeling in the world. Never was a big fan of cardio, and never really sought to measure my health markers, but when I did they were fine, but I was pretty young too. What I can definitely attest for is the mental health benefits. Brisk walking 20-40min 3x/week has actually been shown to be far more effective than SSRIs to treat depression. But yeah, relax You're not being sedentary like I've been for the last 4 years, so you're definitely at at least 60% out of the benefits measured in cardio studies, I'm the one at the control group levels lol I wouldn't worry too much about cardio, visiting a park can be more beneficial than stressing out about running and having to run Eating kiwis/guavas instead of apples and bananas might be even more beneficial to cholesterol and gut health too We stress too much about health nowadays, and most people don't even need to at all. You know what's actually far more important than physical health? Wellbeing. Have a comfortable life, if you don't like running, just don't. Living an uncomfortably stressful but healthy life ain't better than living a somewhat-healthy but happy lifestyle. Just don't let unhealthiness become stressful to your body or mental health either. Do the easy stuff like 1 or 2 glasses of water a day and cutting some fast food, when you feel like running, run. But when you don't, just enjoy life in another way. Don't do it just bc you feel like you have to do it, do it bc you want to do it(i only do it alone for the Runner's high tbh, or to have an excuse to socialize) Seriously, you're already doing more than enough already

[@8lec_R]

@@Ewr42 it's not that I don't like running. I don't mind it, at worst, and at best I get the runner's high. The issue is injuries. I get injured very quickly, this is why I stopped playing squash, my shins and ankles for some reason are very injury prone. Even now when running I'm very careful to run as smoothly as possible with the least amount of stress on my lower legs. So far so good. I hope I don't get hurt again.

[@joshuakohn4408]

Buddy i feel like you know the answer you just hate cardio so bad you doing mental gymnastics to avoid it. There is no way around it you should DEFINITELY do some form of cardio, or you know don't do it but don't convince yourself you getting cardio benefits from lifting weights lmfao

[@MrAndrew990]

Evidence for red meat claims?

[@sambland3903]

It could be argued that brain training that targets every facet of intelligence could demonstrably improve overall cognition. The difficult aspect would be creating a program that is able to target each facet within a reasonable time frame. Combining brain training with regular aerobic and anaerobic (weight training) seems to be the most promising.

[@MarcusGarfunkel]

Yeah, audio is messed up. Hard to watch 😢

[@Buckets41369]

It’s an audio production anyway. You can get the exact same information without watching.

[@neurotransmissions]

YT support was a bit slow, but it should be fixed now!

[@KushAidMan]

What a great video!

[@nervous711]

Is Micheal Merzenich's BrainHQ also those little games that do not generalize much?

[@ChiefsFanInSC]

It's disingenuous to say that IQ isn't an important measure of intelligence. If you have an IQ of 110, you are going to find subjects like physics, math, etc., very challenging.

[@hakhaimo]

Glad to watch your videos. Thank you for sharing. New subscriber here.

[@povertyvoyager]

Hey the audio is still bad as of October 2023z

[@GameOver-qk2ys]

😆PNAS

[@estefanor.4005]

Not audio sync

[@jamessmith4681]

Any thoughts on BrainTap?

[@eddiew2325]

Hi James I love u

[@dannyvanhecke]

I like debunking videos to protect people from scam artists, it's annoying how people can take someone like Deepak Chopra for example seriously. Keep up the good work, my favorite youtube couple.

[@damnumliga396]

I would like to see your video about iq ❤

[@eerosoots]

out of sync audio... like by a lot.

[@CybranM]

audio is super offset

[@neurotransmissions]

YT support was a bit slow, but it should be fixed now!

[@mnoir8888]

Lumosity has helped me. Fact.

[@BlabbermouthRex]

I can't watch thing out of sync

[@gw7624]

Attempting to match the audio with the woman in the video feels like brain training.

[@SuperHotnessJom]

Fine. I'll exercise. LATER. But socialization? Eh. No.

[@jeremygreen2883]

Jordy Peterstone is not going to be happy about cutting all of that red meat out of his diet. He's all about his all meat diet that supposedly improves his brain and lowers his depression... He also cries a lot, soooo... He might want to check his research again.

[@HasoTV]

And this... Jordy... is he in the room with us right now?

[@sharn377]

Damn. You can't keep him out of your head can you?

[@gigahorse1475]

Sheesh… be nice! It works for him, so leave him alone. And aren’t men allowed to cry? 😐

[@8lec_R]

@@sharn377 I mean if someone says empeach, who comes to ur mind? In the same way JP is so popular because of his silly antics, it's hard to not remember him for his stupid takes

[@QenberQenberov-hy7qg]

hello a website has been created that describes the personal thoughts of a person without interfering with the human body. my thoughts, feelings, personal information, what i hear, and even my own voice (telephone conversations, personal conversations) are broadcast there. this web page takes away my personality, people hear and see everything i say. where can i complain about this website being blocked? is there a penalty for this?

[@winnieelward992]

promosm ✅

[@starriderstudios]

Definitely disagree on marriage. It's a good deal for women, but most men I know that we're married would definitely disagree, unless you are a couch potato and can't cook for yourself, see your doc regularly...... Some men need marriage for that

[@rupambanerjee2066]

Even after so many papers being published daily you are saying there isn't any evidence, that too on the dawn of these technologies. Please be patient. Let's see what the future holds.