BrainWise at the University of Pennsylvania

Posted On: August 23, 2005

During the 2004-2005 school year, a pilot study of BrainWise was conducted with 34 students at five school sites. Pre and post-tests were conducted with students using the Tower of London-R instrument (to test executive function) and the Stroop test (to test impulsivity). The findings showed that 28 of 34 students (82%) demonstrated improved performance on at least one of the measures and 16 of 34 (47%) demonstrated improvement on both the TOL-R and the Stroop.

A full paper outlining this study and its findings, as well as the theoretical base of BrainWise was presented by Dr. Barry in June at the 2005 Adolescent Brain Conference at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Conference participants were selected because their work applied research findings that won Dr. Eric Kandel the 2000 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Dr. Kandel proved the brain’s neuroplasticity or its ability to form neural connections when it learned something new.

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