OPTIMIZING BRAIN PERFORMANCE
Decades of research show that science-backed strategies improve brain health.
Learning and practicing behavior modification strategies through cognitive training can have a powerful effect on thinking, memory, attention and mood, improving quality of life and ability to adapt to circumstances.
Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Tactics (SMART™) is our proprietary brain training methodology, developed and tested by Center for BrainHealth researchers and other teams over three decades.
RESEARCH LEADERS
Sandra Bond Chapman, PhD
Chief Director Dee Wyly Distinguished Professor, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences Co-Leader, The BrainHealth Project
Jacquelyn Gamino, PhD
Director of Adolescent Reasoning Initiative Assistant Research Professor
Jennifer Zientz, MS, CCC-SLP
Director of Programs
Chapman, S. B., et al. “Neural Mechanisms of Brain Plasticity With Complex Cognitive Training in Healthy Seniors.” Cerebral Cortex, vol. 25, no. 2, 2013, pp. 396–405., doi:10.1093/cercor/bht234.12
Making Measurable Improvements in Brain Health
- Increasing global blood flow to the brain.
- Forging new connections, and strengthen positive or weaken negative ones.
- Building cortical thickness in regions such as the frontal and parietal cortices.
- Reducing age-related brain shrinkage.
- Improving connective wiring, renovating “insulation” of the long, extended fibers connecting brain cells.
- Achieving fundamental change in brain networks, cells and molecules, including modification of gene expression.
SMART is a neuroscience-based cognitive training program facilitating top-down metacognitive strategies designed to strengthen prefrontal guidance of goal-relevant cognitive operations as opposed to a bottom-up approach of verbatim processing of details. Strategies promote deeper understanding of information encountered in everyday life.
*Our SMART methodology provides the building blocks for individual and group brain training programs.
Early adolescence is an optimal time to enhance learning, but many educators do not have the benefit of cognitive training that teaches the scientific methods to foster these skills.
Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (SMART) for Educators approaches brain health in adolescence by merging positive-growth mindset with instruction, experience and practice using higher order thinking and reflecting on individual metacognitive progress.
Teachers trained in SMART through our Adolescent Reasoning Initiative program have reached 100K+ middle and high school students, supporting academic improvement in Texas and four other states.