Mental Brain Training

A scientifically designed brain gym that adapts to you with a personalized training adapted to your needs. Only 15 minutes per session to train memory, attention, perception, etc. The exercises, designed by neuropsychologists, are presented as entertaining mental games that have the purpose of measuring your cognitive status and its evolution, in addition to its comparison with the rest of users.

Unobraining in detail

Unobraining is a training method that, based on the concept of neuroplasticity, seeks to strengthen the different cognitive areas of the user. For this purpose, it uses a complete set of exercises designed by a multidisciplinary team (different professionals from the Psychology Department of the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, top-level designers and programmers, independent consultants, etc.) The exercises are presented in a relatively playful key, as mental games accessible online. The aim is to introduce an element of fundamental motivation in any training program. 

In Unobraining, four major areas are trained: memory, perceptual skills and the speed of information processing, attention, and executive functions (an area that would include important processes such as decision making and planning) and language.

Our brain is able to adapt to the environment by itself, generating new connections and even new neurons in certain areas of the brain. But can we actively train our brain?

The answer, supported by numerous investigations, is a resounding yes. In a way not very different from how we would do with our body, the brain can be trained and its skills can improve every day. If we subject it to adequate training we can promote this cerebral plasticity, improving our cognitive abilities and even preventing neurodegenerative diseases or the simple deterioration due to aging.

Cognitive impairment

In normal aging, there is a decline in cognitive functions, specifically in memory, attention, and speed of information processing (VPI). This cognitive deterioration depends on both physiological and environmental factors and is subject to great interindividual variability.

Scientific studies

Memory

In several scientific studies, it has been reflected how cognitive training can be beneficial. For example, Valencia et al. (2008) state that numerous studies have been conducted in which positive effects have been demonstrated to compensate for cognitive impairment with cognitive training programs, either general or specific for functions such as memory. These programs apply to healthy adults have beneficial effects in the short and medium term in objective memory, attention, inductive reasoning, VPI and executive function.

Other authors have found a close relationship between leisure activities (traveling, knitting, cooking, working at home, among others) with a reduction in the risk of Alzheimer's disease, as well as favorable effects of physical activity on the memory of work, planning, and motor coordination. However, many studies have not found these effects on cognition by applying only psychomotor (or physical) training. Despite this, most agree that a lifetime of cognitive training, participation in leisure time activities, physical and professional activity has an important effect in delaying the onset of the harmful effects of aging. Thanks to these studies, Valencia et al.

Work memory attention

According to the study by Moreno & Lópera (2009), the performance of the Supervisory Attention System (SAS) can be negatively affected during aging, leading to the appearance of a deficient ability of the subject to selectively attend a stimulus and to inhibit irrelevant stimuli. , with an increase in the level of distraction and deficiency in prolonged cognitive focus and divided attention. 

The severity of these deficiencies during normal aging is related to individual differences, such as schooling, level of activity and some genetic factors. These changes in attention, together with the decrease in the speed of information processing (VPI), could be the direct cause of the daily forgetfulness reported by older adults, with a relative discomfort and interference in daily activities.

The participants were trained in several functions, including attention, obtaining a significant improvement in the trained cognitive processes and the functional status of the subjects. Likewise, a program of combined stimulation of memory training and psychomotor skills applied to a group of 50 subjects produced a significant improvement in selective attention and speed of processing. Finally, it has been reported that in patients with brain injury, after a selective, sustained and divided training process, important benefits were obtained in tasks involving working memory and executive control, which showed that despite the injury, it is possible to positively influence the performance of working memory using attention training strategies. There are multiple benefits on cognition exerted by stimulation programs; however, most of these processes are based on directly training the affected function, there are few works where an unaffected cognitive process is used to stimulate another cognitive activity tangentially related.

Working memory in children

In the study by Alsina & Sáiz (2004), it was investigated whether it was possible to train working memory in children aged 7-8 years since this would have important repercussions both as a palliative and as a preventive type in school performance. According to numerous studies, children who have a poor ability in working memory are those who get worse performance in instrumental learning such as reading or calculation, so increasing this ability is assumed to increase their performance in tasks cognitive (as pointed out, likewise, other studies), since the training effect is generalized to untrained tasks that depend on working memory. In their study, it is observed that children improve significantly in phonological loop tests,

Training with Unobraining

Thanks to various mental games, with Unobraining you can train different cognitive areas important for the health of our brain but whose changes we will notice also in the day today. These brain games have been developed thanks to the intense research of a multidisciplinary team in which we find psychologists, neuroscientists, physiologists or computer scientists, each one contributing their particular vision and, in this way, creating games or exercises specifically designed for the training of each cognitive function.

Not all puzzles are good challenges. Many times games such as crosswords and/or Sudoku are used to speed up the mind, but the more they are practiced, the less useful they are, since they do not create new ways in the brain but they continue to use the old ones. In order to train the mind, we must face challenges that are both challenging for us but adapted to our level. In this way, our brain creates new connections and adapts existing ones to allow us to face new situations. In this way, the mental games designed by Unobraining allow our brain to exercise and, little by little, can face greater challenges.

Why with online games?

It is evident that playing is more pleasant than doing other kinds of more tedious tasks, but is it really possible to achieve cognitive training that is as satisfied with this type of technology, compared to other more traditional techniques?

The answer is yes. The results are not only similar, but are superior: we are all more motivated and we feel happier when we are having fun, and this is certified by numerous investigations. According to the study by Fernández-Calvo et al. (2011) carried out with Alzheimer's patients, the results showed that a cognitive stimulation program based on new technologies produced a significant reduction in the cognitive decline associated with this disease and depressive symptomatology in relation to the "traditional" stimulation group. These results support that the introduction of recreational-recreational elements, on the one hand, and the systematization of reinforcements (for example points, classifications, and applause of the program), on the other hand, have an important effect on motivation,