The Center for BrainHealth is conducting a 10-year study which involves testing calculated thinking strategies to expand the capacity of the human brain. Photo by Anna Phengsakmueang | Mercury Staff.
Research aims to unlock human brain’s potential by including over 120,000 participants in coming decade
The
BrainHealth Project, a research study headed by UTD’s Center for BrainHealth,
is confronting the challenge of enhancing the brain’s potential through a
national study involving 120,000 people throughout the next 10 years.
BrainHealth
Project Leader Sandra Chapman said she and her team are trying to change the
way people view their brains with this project.
“Everyone
right now has a lot of stigma and worry about their brain because they think
about it as testing of IQ that’s fixed (and can’t be changed), but not, ‘What
can I do to keep a mental edge?’” Chapman said. “We’re going to change and turn
on its head the way we look at our human brain.”
The
study is currently projected to reach 120,000 participants across the nation
over the next 10 years, but Chapman said those estimates will increase. The
project’s overview document also states that the main goal of the study is
moving the focus of clinicians and scientists from general brain health to
improving the brain’s potential.
“We have
the immense potential to keep our brain functioning stronger every single day,”
Chapman said. “I think, for me as a cognitive neuroscientist, one of the most
surprising things is that compared to other aspects of our health, the brain is
the only part of our body that we only focus on when something goes wrong.”
Recent
studies regarding brain health have shown that carefully designed tactical
thinking strategies, when combined with lifestyle changes, have the potential
to drastically enhance the capacity of brains, according to the project
overview. The study aims to determine which training patterns work best when it
comes to improving the brain’s performance. Chapman said the study will test brain measures,
cognitive measures, psychological well-being, the complexity of what people are
tackling in everyday life and social connectedness.
“I think that it’s going to be a very big
explosion for what can happen out of UTD,” Chapman said.
Chapman
said the study attracted partners from major institutions such as Stanford,
MIT, Harvard and UC Berkeley. She said initially she wasn’t confident that UTD
would be able to lead the project when it started attracting east coast
institutions such as Johns Hopkins and Harvard but was surprised when each of
the institutions chose UTD to lead the study.
She said
for her, the most exciting part is removing the societal stigma surrounding
brains and brain health.
“It is going to transform humanity,” Chapman said. “To be
the best version of yourself and to make sure our brain gets better and better
every year instead of thinking in this limited way about the most amazing
engine that was ever created — it’s exciting.”