BRAIN FITNESS 2
H A P P Yn e u r o n , I n c . ,
w w w. h a p p y ‐ n e u r o n . c o m
Table of Contents
Brain Fitness 2 1
Introduction 1
How it Works 1
Features 2
Benefits 2
Minimum System Requirements 2
Ancient Writing 3
Bird Songs 5
Decipher 7
Embroidery 9
Heraldry 11
Hurray for Change 13
Points of View 15
Private Eye 17
Seize the Keywords 19
Shapes and Colors 21
This Story is Full of Blanks 22
Writing in the Stars 24
B ra i n F i t n e s s C D
i
Brain Fitness 2
Introduction
Brain vitality and agility is vital for success in daily life for everyone, whether you are a
student, professional, a stay-at-home-mom or are retired. This BRAIN FITNESS 2 CD-
ROM contains fun and innovative exercises and tools that will provide your brain with a
full mental workout.
Your brain requires novel and complex stimulation to build brainpower. This program
provides just that! In just 20 minutes per day, BRAIN FITNESS 2 will help increase
thinking ability, prevent brain aging, and hone all five cognitive functions of memory,
language, concentration, visual/spatial skills and executive function. Moreover, it will
provide you with the tools to monitor and track your progress.
How it Works
The way to improve is to continually challenge yourself. As you develop your abilities,
BRAIN FITNESS 2 will automatically adapt to your progress and present ever increas-
ing challenges. It is satisfying to succeed quickly and effortlessly, but the key to creating
new neural pathways and keeping your mind sharp is to challenge yourself and “push
the envelope”. You’ll see the coach recommendations highlighted by a yellow star as you
start each new game. The yellow star designates the level of challenge we believe you
are capable of, based on our scientific analysis of your past performance.
BRAIN FITNESS 2 will keep you in-
formed of your progress as you perform
the exercises (AKA Play the Games). Get
your friends and family to play as well.
Cultural memory, long-term memory,
concentration, reasoning, and visual and
spatial skills will all be tested in the Warm
Up exercises.
BRAIN FITNESS 2 will also track your
progress on the Warm Up exercises and
will assign "Weak" and "Strong" areas to
your tasks in the Coach area.
Brain Fitness CD
1
In the Coach session, choose from a variety of short and long exercises based on
themes such as Strengths, Weaknesses, Random Workout, etc.. You can also attempt
the "Total Workout" in the Coach section to challenge a broad spectrum of cognitive
skills. Strive for the Challenge Sessions in Memory, Logic or Concentration and finally
achieve cognitive ultra sharpness with the Grand Slam workout.
Features
✓ Developed by a team of leading doctors led by Dr. Bernard Croisile
✓ 12 Unique Exercises with multiple difficulty levels
✓ Hundreds of hours of unique exercises
✓ Cross functional training in all 5 major cognitive functions
✓ Variety of Coach Sessions - Warm Up, Total Workout, Special Challenges
✓ Track your performance improvements
✓ Review your performance against your peers - those in your same age, gender and
education level
✓ Get detailed global performance reports emailed to you on demand
✓ Maintain all your performance results if you upgrade to HAPPYneuron online
Benefits
✓ Remember More
✓ Concentrate Better
✓ Think Sharper
✓ React Quicker
✓ Increase Confidence
✓ Sharpen Processing Speed
Minimum System Requirements
✓ Computer: PC (this product does not run on Macintosh)
✓ Operating System: Windows 95/98/ME/ME/2000/XP/Vista and NT - SP4
✓ Processor: Pentium 700 processor or higher
✓ Memory: 512 MB RAM
✓ Disk Space: 50 MB
✓ Display: 800 x 600, 32 bits
✓ CD ROM Drive: 4 x CD-ROM
✓ Sound Card, Keyboard, Mouse
Brain Fitness CD
2
Ancient Writing
Game Description
Compare ancient writing characters (Egyptian, Maya ...) or other writing systems
(Japanese, Thai...) and pick out the different characters. In this activity, it is critical for
you to pay close attention to the characters. You must distinguish a set of characters
and memorize them. From a second set of characters, your task will be to figure out
which characters were not present in the first set.
Cognitive Function Exercised
In addition to your visual memory, this exercise
primarily stimulates your attention, which is
the cognitive process of selectively concentrat-
ing on one aspect of the environment while ig-
noring other things. Further, this task will
stimulate your concentration and your visual
analysis of the shapes of characters. Visual
scanning skills and your ability to attend to de-
tail will be put to the test.
Brain Fitness CD
3
Benefits to Daily Life
Whenever we are presented with a new set of symbols, such as when learning to navi-
gate traffic signs for the first time or when learning a language with a unique alphabet,
we use the skills from this activity. As humans, we are unique in how we use symbols
and characters to represent our world. It is part of our innate ability to learn and cre-
ate languages.
In terms of attention, consider everything that is stimulating your senses as you read
this sentence. Perhaps there are background noises or a conversation nearby, the aro-
mas of food or pangs of hunger, distractions in your peripheral vision, thoughts of
things to do, recent conversations or events still fresh in your mind. Paying attention is
resisting distractions.
Brain Fitness CD
4
Bird Songs
Game Description
Learn to recognize bird species by their song. You'll need to discriminate between im-
ages of different species of birds and also between different types of songs. At times,
these differences may be subtle, which makes this task especially challenging.
Cognitive Function Exercised
This is a cross-modal task mainly involving the
right tempo-parietal regions of the brain. The pur-
pose of this game is to draw upon our working
memories of visual and auditory characteristics of
each bird, to practice visual-spatial scanning of
the images on the screen, and to practice concen-
tration for this type of material. In some cases,
deductive reasoning is needed in order to choose the right match, eliminating the
choices that have already been made and those that are most obviously wrong.
Brain Fitness CD
5
Benefit to Daily Life
In an increasingly noisy world, the ability to detect meaningful sounds in the midst of
general background noise becomes very important. Our ability to distinguish such
sounds can become less precise as we age. This game helps train the characteristics
necessary to stay sharp in this area.
Brain Fitness CD
6
Decipher
Game Description
You are asked to decipher some famous quotations where the letters have been re-
placed, either by other letters or by symbols. To make the exercise easier, it is a mono-
alphabetical substitution in which each letter is always replaced by the same letter or
symbol. Cracking these secret codes are perfect practice if you like mysteries or for the
James Bond in you!
Cognitive Function Exercised
The primary brain area exercised is the pre-frontal
and frontal cortex. The executive system is
thought to be involved in processes such as plan-
ning, abstract thinking, cognitive flexibility, rule
acquisition, initiating appropriate actions, inhibiting
inappropriate ones, and selecting relevant sensory
information. This deciphering exercise requires the
collaboration of various cognitive skills: concentration, language (spelling, grammar
rules, letter frequency), logic, and the capacity to make deductions from hypotheses.
Brain Fitness CD
7
Benefits to daily life
The dynamics of executive functioning influence our performance at school, on the job,
our emotional responses, personal relationships, and social skills. However, executive
functioning develops a little differently in each of us; each individual is uniquely
stronger or more competent in some cognitive control areas and weaker in others.
Brain Fitness CD
8
Embroidery
Game Description
In this language game, a table with sixteen boxes appears and each box contains a let-
ter of the alphabet. You must find the word hidden within the scramble of letters. You
can choose seven, eight or nine-letter words. This is a deceptively challenging game,
so clues are provided to help you find the correct answer.
Cognitive Function Exercised
The areas of the brain at work are the occipital
lobe for processing incoming visual information
and the left temporal lobe for language, verbal
memory and information retrieval. Some exercises
are more difficult than others as they simultane-
ously call upon several different skills. To succeed
at this task, you will need to combine visual scan-
ning and semantic memory. Many people process most language information using the
left side of their brain.
Brain Fitness CD
9
Benefits to Daily Life
The skills called upon in this exercise are constantly used in our daily lives. For exam-
ple, scanning for your name on a class list or scanning a monitor for airline flight de-
partures to see if your flight is on time. Crossword puzzles also train your skills for
word retrieval. It is about mentally searching through the language repository stored in
long-term memory.
Brain Fitness CD
10
Heraldry
Game Description
The emergence of heraldry occurred across Western Europe almost simultaneously.
Over time, distinct differences developed between the heraldic traditions of different
countries. In this exercise you have to memorize the various elements in a coat of
arms, with more or less complex shapes, colors and patterns. In addition, a distracting
intermediary task intervenes to disturb the memorization process to give you more
challenge. Let's see if you can distinguish the various shields, tinctures, ordinaries,
crests and charges.
Cognitive Function Exercised
This exercise helps strengthen visual memory,
spatial memory and visual concentration. Visual
memory is a part of memory preserving some
characteristics of our senses pertaining to visual
experience. We are able to place in memory infor-
mation that resembles objects, places, animals or
people in sort of a mental image. Spatial memory can be considered a subcategory of
visual memory because it relies on a cognitive map.
Brain Fitness CD
11
Benefits to Daily Life
We rely on visual memory to remember the details of everything we see. Remember-
ing city landmarks, recalling the logos on grocery products or bringing to mind the
shapes of various traffic signs all entail use of this function. Spatial memory, by con-
trast, entails recalling objects in relation to one another; for example, locations on a
map or the positions of stores in a shopping mall. Concentration is involved in both
functions since the abilities to store visual and spatial information in memory depends
on the capacity to hold a visual display in mind long enough to process and record the
details of what we are seeing and experiencing. Concentration is fundamental for a
good memory.
Brain Fitness CD
12
Hurray for Change
Game Description
The task consists of a double ordering task. At the simplest level, you are presented
with letters or words that you must put in alphabetical order. At the more complex
level, the task involves alternating between words and numbers or, between two words
from different categories. The difficulty and the interest lie in the skipping from one to
another in a limited time.
Cognitive Function Exercised
The brain area exercised in this game is the pre-
frontal cortex. This exercise requires mental flexi-
bility, inhibition, and sequencing abilities. In addi-
tion, this task requires visual-conceptual and
visual-motor tracking. It also entails motor speed
and attention functions. This game requires
problem-solving skills that call on the brain's executive functions. You must define a
strategy to reach a desired outcome, calculate the right moves to reach the solution in
the shortest possible time, and remember the rules of the exercise.
Brain Fitness CD
13
Benefits to Daily Life
Are you a multi-tasker? If so, you are able to shift your attention from one task to an-
other without losing track of information. You are able to focus and sustain your atten-
tion while organizing and prioritizing information. These abilities are found in air traffic
controllers, culinary staff at a busy restaurant and even chess players. In everyday life,
you may use your executive functions when you are reorganizing your financial files or
preparing the house for the holidays by simultaneously cooking and cleaning when
everything has to be ready at a different time!
Brain Fitness CD
14
Points of View
Game Description
In this game, you are invited to train your abilities in visual-spatial representations.
There are two steps to this task: first, deduce the location of the observer on a map
according to what he sees and, second, deduce what the observer sees according to
his location on a map. It is not always easy to mentally perceive the accurate 3-D spa-
tial representation of a landscape from a map, or of a monument from a plan.
Cognitive Function Exercised
The parietal lobe integrates sensory information
from different modalities, particularly determining
spatial sense and navigation. This enables regions
of the parietal cortex to map objects perceived
visually into body coordinate positions. The parietal
lobe involves functions such as the ability to dis-
criminate between sensory stimuli, the ability to locate and recognize parts of the body
and spatial orientation.
Brain Fitness CD
15
Benefits to Daily Life
Location, distance, direction, and perspective are characteristics of spatial orientation
that affect how we gather, process, and express information. In everyday life you apply
these skills when you are driving, when you are in a new environment, or reading a
map. If you are designing your own house you will need to draw a floor plan or dia-
gram of the rooms in your home as if you were looking down into the home through a
glass ceiling. These skills would be essential. You may also use these skills when play-
ing sports or dancing with a partner. Doubles anyone?
Brain Fitness CD
16
Private Eye
Game Description
You think you may be better than Sherlock Holmes or Inspector Clouseau? Well then,
pull out your cloak and magnifying glass and exercise your sleuthing instincts with this
conundrum. You will need a discriminating eye to peruse the grid full of intricate sym-
bols and letters, and catch the sneaky suspect that does not belong. Find the impostor
before the clock runs out. You can challenge yourself with various versions and levels
of difficulty.
Cognitive Function Exercised
Primarily, this task will exercise your abilities for a
specific type of attention called focused attention
and concentration. Attention is the essence of fo-
cus. Any time you pay attention to something, and
any time you ignore something, data is created in
your brain. That data has value, but only if it's
gathered, measured, and analyzed. In addition, this game requires good visual scan-
ning and shape recognition skills.
Brain Fitness CD
17
Benefits to Daily Life
When you are rolled into the operating room at the hospital, you want to know that the
surgeon is ready to concentrate on your procedure. When you board a jetliner for your
next vacation destination, you want to know that the tower crew is attentive and ready
to direct the pilot through dense airport traffic. Attention and concentration are vital in
some professions. Even in our everyday lives, we all need to concentrate to avoid traf-
fic accidents, to get the job finished, to remember important information. We also use
our visual scanning abilities when we grocery shop, follow slide presentations at work
or search for our child amongst many others when the bell rings at school. But with
today's world filled with distractions, are we capable of concentrating as well as we
used to? Find out for yourself with this game.
Brain Fitness CD
18
Seize the Keywords
Game Description
This exercise consists of reading a 10-line story and memorizing the order in which all
the verbs appear. If you are attentive enough and understand the story, it is easy to
remember the logical order of the verbs (as verbs imply action). Then, all the verbs
are listed at random and you are asked to place them in the correct order, as found in
the text.
Cognitive Function Exercised
The left tempo-parietal region is the main area at
play in this game. This task exercises your lin-
guistic aptitude and your episodic memory. The
aim is to train your written comprehension skills
and your memory for events, times, places and
associated emotions by focusing on the key words
and finding the logical links between them.
Brain Fitness CD
19
Benefit to Daily Life
This exercise will train your comprehension (receptive language) skills and provide
practice putting a sequence of events in order so as to remember better. For example,
whether you are trying to understand a difficult passage in a novel or recounting an
important event, you will need these skills.
Brain Fitness CD
20
Shapes and Colors
Game Description
Strengthen your visual memory with this game. You must first memorize 6, 8 or 10
figures of various shapes and colors and then recognize them among slightly different
ones.
Cognitive Function Exercised
This exercise calls upon your visual short-term
memory. The primary area of the brain exercised is
the right temporal cortex and the parietal regions.
Visual short-term memory enables the brain to
store visual information such as shapes and loca-
tions of objects.
Benefits to Daily Life
This exercise demands attention to detail and the use of discrimination and differentia-
tion for shapes. Every day we encounter a myriad of different symbols and logos, in-
cluding traffic signs, markers for shops and stores, even computer icons!
Brain Fitness CD
21
This Story is Full of Blanks
Game Description
Be an editor for a day by going through a text in which words are missing. You must
then choose the correct word out of a list of words provided. To make it more creative
and interesting, you can choose between prose, drama or poetry.
Cognitive Function Exercised
The main brain area at play is the left temporal
lobe where the seat of language is located for most
people who are right-handed. This exercise re-
quires concentration, a solid vocabulary and good
semantics which refers to aspects of meaning, as
expressed in language.
Brain Fitness CD
22
Benefits to Daily Life
Everyday, we use the various aspects of language, oral comprehension and expression,
and reading and writing. We exercise our vocabulary and grammatical skills when we
write a letter, an essay or a report. We try to carefully choose the right word that ex-
presses what we mean. On a daily basis we need to build coherent texts and in order
to do that we must judiciously choose relevant and grammatically correct words out of
our repertoire.
Brain Fitness CD
23
Writing in the Stars
Game Description
Heavenly inspiration is required for this new twist on the old cross-word puzzle. You
are given a list of nine words. Only six of them connect with each other to form the
five point star.
Cognitive Function Exercised
This exercise aims at training your capacity for
logical reasoning. In order to determine which 6
words to choose from the list of nine, you have to
try a number of logical combinations to find which
positions of letters are common to two or three
words.
Brain Fitness CD
24
The main brain area involved in this task is the pre-frontal cortex. This game trains
your “executive functions”. This term refers to a set of mental processes that are in-
volved in goal-directed activity. Executive functions include: keeping track of several
pieces of information at once, making flexible changes in the plan as needed, thinking
creatively to come up with a variety of possible solutions and generating and testing
hypotheses in a systematic way.
Benefits to Daily Life
To carry out a shopping trip, especially in an unfamiliar environment where you have to
visit many different shops, is an example of a situation that requires "multitasking" in
everyday life. Also, making travel plans, keeping track of all your appointments, en-
gaging in group dynamics at work or at a social event, to evaluate a colleagues ideas
and then to reflect on the work are all examples of executive functioning.
Brain Fitness CD
25