A recent study looked at piano player’s ability to sight read a new piece of music. It was published in journal Psychological Science and demonstrated that while practice, practice, practice, leads to great musical performance, that working memory capacity, plays an important role in the level of performance that can ultimately be achieved.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Outliers he shares the body of research that shows regardless of the skill or activity,  that over 10,000 hours of consistent practice is required to achieve an expert level of proficiency. Incidentally, Mozart is one of the musical geniuses highlighted in this fascinating discussion. While practice makes perfect, cognitive function must be at a sufficient level to engage and excel at the task, as in the example of the pianist.  With that said, cognitive function, working memory in this case is not something which is fixed. What your capacity is today, can be increased, dramatically, to help you excel in all areas of life, including musical performance.

Working memory is of great interest to me, largely because it is becoming increasingly recognized as one of the fundamental cognitive abilities that is key to unlocking our full potential. This is not new information. This is a discovery my father made some 35 years ago, and has fervently pursued since, developing methods to expand working memory and sequential processing ability. Work that I have continued at Advanced Brain Technologies through our BrainBuilder® neurosoftware program which assesses and trains these abilities.

I am pleased to see the research community taking such interest in working memory and look forward to seeing more studies linking cognitive function to musical ability in the future. For you musicians perhaps you may consider some targeted working memory training to accompany your practice and advance your performance to an entirely new level!

Read more about the research linking working memory to musical performance.

Brain Awareness Week is here! Well, it has been here since Monday, but I have been so busy I have not had a chance to share a quick post to let you all know we are running an amazing offer on our BrainBuilder® brain fitness program at www.advancedbrain.com.

I want everyone to have the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential and certainly hope that $70 off on BrainBuilder will get you on your way!

March 16-22 is Brain Awareness Week.  

Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is an international campaign dedicated to advancing public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. Founded and coordinated by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and its sister organization, the European Dana Alliance for the Brain, BAW is now entering its fourteenth year as a catalyst for public understanding of brain science. The Dana Alliances are joined in the campaign by partners from around the world, including universities, hospitals, patient groups, government agencies, schools, service organizations, and professional associations. 

Advanced Brain Technologies is a proud campaign partner and is offering a $50 discount on BrainBuilder® to encourage brain fitness for everyone!

For information on this limited time offer please visit http://www.abtmedia.com.

To learn more about Brain Awareness Week visit the Official Web Site of the International Brain Awareness Week Campaign  http://www.dana.org/brainweek/

The very clever and always entertaining Tori Deaux of MindTweaks.com fame has just written her review of our brain fitness program BrainBuilder®.  

Who says blind dates don’t work! Read Tori’s review: http://www.mindtweaks.com/wordpress/?p=1125