BrainHQ: Longevity Explorer Report (Pt 1)

BrainHQ: Our Experience

Longevity Explorers signed up for and used the tool BrainHQ (TM) for a number of months, and here they report on their experiences using this online, brain function measurement and brain training tool.

Introduction and Context

We are interested in BrainHQ (from Posit Science) for several reasons:

• It enables one to “measure” the state of a number of different cognition functions, and is a potential candidate for the brain “check engine light” concept we have been exploring; and

• It is designed primarily to exercise a variety of mental processes, with the goal of improving one’s cognition in various ways (via changes due to brain plasticity).

Here is how the company (Posit Science) describes their product BrainHQ (TM):

“BrainHQ is your online headquarters for working out your brain. Think of it as a personal gym, where you exercise your memory, attention, brain speed, people skills, intelligence and navigation instead of your abs, delts, and quads. Just as our bodies require care and exercise over the course of life, so do our brains. BrainHQ provides the exercise your brain needs to be at its sharpest.” … from Posit Science’s BrainHQ website.

As part of our exploration, we particularly wanted to understand questions like:

1. How appropriate is this tool for the check engine light for brain concept we have been exploring?

2. How compelling is the evidence to support the idea that using this tool can “improve” aspects of cognition, and perhaps even push out the time at which cognitive impairment (eg dementia) starts to impair everyday life?

In this post (Part 1) we share the experience we had as we used the BrainHQ brain exercise tool. In Part 2 we share what we learned about the potential for “improving” cognition using these exercise programs; and in Part 3 we explore how suitable the measurement tools in BrainHQ are for the check engine light concept.

We share both the experience we had as we used the BrainHQ brain exercise tool, and what we learned about the potential for “improving” cognition using these exercise programs.

Disclaimer

This exploration was NOT sponsored by any third party. We do NOT include affiliate links or advertisements in this post. We do NOT have any business relationship with the company or products described in this post at the time of publication, nor have we had one prior to the exploration. The explorers who used the BrainHQ products in this exploration were typical “consumers”, and received no special treatment by the company.

For products we like, we do sometimes enter into collaborations with the companies, and reserve the right to do so in the future with companies mentioned in this post — although none are contemplated at the time of publication.

• Read the Background section below for why we do this work.

• To learn why we started with this brain training tool rather than one of the many competing products, see “Check Engine Light for the Brain Part 3”.

• This is not intended to be medical advice. If you have questions relating to your own mental or physical health, please consult an appropriately qualified clinician.

What We Did

As part of our “check engine light for the brain exploration”, we identified two “brain training” products as most likely to be a good choice for the measurement portion of the concept (here). In this post we describe the experiences of two explorers using one of these products: BrainHQ.

In addition, at meetings of the Longevity Explorers over the last few years, when the topic of brain games or brain training came up, individual explorers have often commented about various brain training games they have used, and we have a variety of anecdotal opinions from them about which products they do and do not like (and why). While we have not tried to reflect these opinions of the broader explorer community here, we encourage explorers reading this to add their experiences below in the comment section!

Here is the outline of what we did.

• Starting in December 2022, two explorers signed up on BrainHQ, purchased a subscription, and started using the tool. [We paid $124 for two people for a year. Current price on the BrainHQ website as of publication date is $96/person/yr or $155 for a family of 2 people.]

• One explorer (Explorer A) used it regularly for about 3 months on 34 separate days, and then stopped. The other explorer (Explorer B) continues to use it as of this report (September 2023, or roughly 9 months) and has trained on more than 80 separate days.

• In addition to our anecdotal reports of the experience of these explorers, we spent rather a lot of time researching the scientific literature and reading a variety of peer reviewed publications relating to the underlying science of cognitive testing and brain training.

Here is Part 1 of the report about what we learned.

Using BrainHQ

The basic idea of BrainHQ is that you login to the BrainHQ App (or website), and then do some “exercises” (think of them as carefully designed “games”).

Here are some key points:

• BrainHQ (Posit Science) prides itself on being based on serious science, and claims this sets it apart from many of the competitors. We discussed this in our prior post (here) and agree this is an important strength of the product.

• On a given day, the App’s “Personal Trainer” presents you with a series of exercise modules chosen according to some internal algorithm that adapts both the type of exercise and the level of exercise to how you have been performing in previous sessions. (You can choose not to use the personal trainer but both explorers liked this feature).

• You can spend as long or as short a time training as you wish. Explorers A and B typically used it for between 10-30 minutes on days they chose to train, and might use it on 3-5 days a week.

• Over time, you get exposed to a wider variety of types of brain training exercise, and at ever increasing levels of difficulty. After using the App for a number of days you end up training each of the 6 “aspects” of brain function which the App considers important: Attention; Memory; Brain Speed; People Skills; Intelligence; Navigation.

• There is a lot of material on the BrainHQ website (here) that explains more about the rationale behind the choice of exercise, and the science underlying the product. To learn more, we encourage you to read that (we are not trying to reproduce it all here).

• To get a flavor for exactly what these “brain exercises” are like, you can try several of them out for free on the BrainHQ website (link above).

• The App has various features (like reminders) that encourage you to keep coming back on a regular basis.

• A very important aspect of BrainHQ is that it “measures” your performance and provides a simple graphical display that shows you how you compare with other users of the product on each of the 6 brain function aspects above. And over time you can watch this change. See below for more on this topic.

Tracking Your Performance

A key aspect of this product for our Check Engine Light Concept is the ability to quantify brain function in some systematic way. BrainHQ does attempt to do that, as we explain below.

Below is an example of the “results” for Explorer A (reproduced with permission).

Caption: Explorer A BrainHQ “Performance Scores” after 34 sessions.

By mousing over the display in the App you get additional information you can’t see in this screenshot. There is lots of detailed information, as described below.

• You can see how you compare “overall” to either others your age or to the entire population. That is the number at the center of the display (in the case of Explorer A: the 84th percentile for age 67).

• Each of the individual colored “wedges” of the pie corresponds to a specific functional area. For example, the blue wedges all relate to “Brain Speed”, with the outermost 4 blue wedges representing scores on 4 different types of brain speed “exercises”. Mousing over them in the App gives numerical results.

• Over time as you train in the App, you see your overall scores change. We are still a bit unsure about exactly how to interpret these changes over time as explained in the section “Observations” below. But we think this is likely a useful metric for our Check Engine Light for Brain Concept.

• Note that you get a separate score for each of the 6 “aspects” of brain function which the App considers important: Attention; Memory; Brain Speed; People Skills; Intelligence; Navigation.

Observations

Here are some high level observations to give readers a feel for the experience of using the product.

• Both explorers found using the BrainHQ product easy to use, and without many glitches or weird app “issues”.

• One explorer found it “fun” and continues to use it to this day. The other found it a “bit boring” and had to force himself to use it.

• You can use it on either a tablet (eg iPad) or computer. Explorer A used an iPad and Explorer B used a laptop. Both explorers agree a tablet is a better tool for this App. We found it helped to use a stylus instead of a finger or mouse, and that you want to try and use the “same” setup over time so that the scores are not impacted by changes in the equipment.

• The exercises mainly test the brain and sensory perception (eg hearing and vision), so manual dexterity did not seem to be very important. Having said that, you do need to click on things, so some degree of physical capability is needed. Some of the exercises would be hard for people with significant hearing impairment and most of them require adequate vision.

• We noticed a quite steep increase in scores in the first few sessions of each exercise, and it seemed clear that some of that was “learning” what the game entailed. For example, one had to learn that you were supposed to watch for something to appear on the screen. And that for some exercises you needed to listen to something and thus needed to put on your headset. And for some exercises you had to watch the screen carefully for differences between images and thus needed to have on your reading glasses. So, we decided the very initial scores probably did not mean much — until you mastered the “basics” of the App.

• However after the initial learning curve, the scores plateaued and then continued to grow more slowly as we trained. Our hypothesis is that the initial plateau of scores (after the early learning how to play the game phase is complete) likely represents “brain function scores prior to serious game-related improvement”.

• Over time the scores continued to climb, although in very different ways for the two explorers. Our hypothesis is that this ongoing change relates to changes in underlying brain function, although there may also be a component of “learning the game” and we don’t know how to untangle the two factors.

• If you read the background research on the science behind the game, the idea is that the exercises encourage various types of brain remodeling (the phenomenon of brain plasticity). So the idea is very definitely that ongoing exercise is meant to “improve various underlying brain functions”.

Will BrainHQ Improve my Cognition and my Life?

There is an ongoing debate about the extent to which brain training translates to generalizable improvements in cognition, and transfers to things that affect everyday life.

We got sidetracked into a rather deep rabbit hole of trying to understand the different opinions on this topic and the data that exists.

The short answer seems to be that for this specific product (BrainHQ) there is quite a lot of evidence of beneficial effects (in some areas for some people). This is not the case for all brain training products.

In Part 2 of this exploration, we summarize what we have learned on this topic.

Implications for Brain “Check Engine Light”

At first glance, the Performance Scores shown above seem like just what we want for our brain check engine light concept.

They produce measurements correlated to various types of cognitive function, and you can track them over time.

However, as we thought more deeply about this, we realized we have some open questions.

These questions mainly relate to the idea that the Performance Scores above are scores of how well one performs on the training exercises. And while they likely correlate to underlying brain function, we are unsure of whether or not we need something that is a more independent metric.

We explore this further in Part 3 of this exploration (coming soon).

---

Background

(Repeated from Prior Installments)

About this Exploration

Here are a few caveats (repeated from the prior installment):

• We are doing this exploration because a group of Longevity Explorers are interested in finding out whether or not there is a way they can cobble together some type of “check-engine-light for the brain” to use for themselves.

• We are not doing it to try and sell anything to anyone. Apart from possible subscriptions to this newsletter, we do not make money in any way by doing this work. The companies (if any) mentioned in this exploration do not compensate us either directly or indirectly.

• During this exploration, we will be “learning in public”. This means we will be sharing what we learn as we learn it. While we try to be objective and accurate, it is possible we will make mistakes. Feel free to share what you know in the comments, and help us learn, and correct us if we make errors (please provide facts and references rather than assertions).

• While our explorer community includes individuals with relevant experience for this exploration, you should not rely on results of our exploration for medical advice of any sort. When it comes to your personal health, “consult your physician” is always good advice.

• To find the earlier portions of this exploration see: Brain Check Engine Light Part 1, | Part 2, | Part 3.

Who is this Exploration For?

The way we conceive of the “check-engine-light for the brain” is as a tool to be used by older adults who want to plan for the future, and who want to have a tool to help them think about their own cognition and keep an eye on any changes to it.

In the world of healthcare, the sort of people who might want this are sometimes called the “worried well”.

This exploration is not designed for people who have cognitive impairment or dementia, or for their caregivers. However some of the things we learn might be useful for those groups.

---

Please Share Your Opinions and Ideas

Some of you may well have opinions on this topic. We welcome your comments and suggestions in the comments (button below).

To short circuit some of the likely comments:

• we will definitely be incorporating the opinions of experts (such as neurologists and geriatricians) in our exploration. If you are such a person and would like to help, please send us an email (or reply to this email);

• please don’t post comments that are infomercials or affiliate links or other marketing material. They will be blocked.

• If possible, please use the comments rather than sending us an email, so others can benefit from your opinions too.

• We plan to reach out to BrainHQ to get their help educating us further.

References

1. Here is the product we are exploring in this post: BrainHQ (Posit Science)