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Tom Brady has done it again. In his 18 years in the NFL, he has led the Patriots to nine Super Bowls, and now has won six. More than any other player. And, at an older age.
Like most sports, football is a game of decision-based movements — with continuous demands for the right decision to be made in a split-second, amidst distraction, and under enormous pressure. This has become Brady’s trademark. It is a feat of strength of the mind, more than the body.
It’s all the more astonishing because it is well-established that, for most of us, brain performance peaks in the early 20s and then begins a steady decline.
Yet, Brady will tell you that he is in better condition today than he was a decade ago.
Brady learned about BrainHQ brain exercises five years ago from neuroscientists on his extended training team. They could see the effects of BrainHQ training in neuro-imaging. Brady could see the results on the field. He added BrainHQ to his training regimen, which became the TB12 Method, described in a book of the same name.
In that book, Brady wrote: “As a result of using BrainHQ exercises, I can see more of what’s happening, more accurately, and therefore make better decisions, faster.”
Brady’s brain exercise regimen is not just fun and games. It’s serious science – developed, tested, refined and validated by a global team of hundreds of brain scientists – and shown effective in scores or peer-reviewed publications.
The exercises focus on improving the speed and accuracy of the brain’s perceptual systems. That really matters in sports, where a win or a loss can be decided by split-seconds or inches. The cloud-based program is built with smart algorithms to personalize dozens of exercises to each user within minutes, and to continuously make micro-adjustments (based on each user’s performance) to drive brain changes.
Anyone can try training on the exercises used by Tom Brady at tb12.brainhq.com.
Dr. Henry W. Mahncke is a research neuroscientist, who serves as CEO of
Posit Science, the leading provider of plasticity-based brain training and
assessments. In 2003, Dr. Mahncke was hired as the first employee of Posit
Science, to head its research efforts as VP of Research and Outcomes. He was named CEO in 2011.
Dr. Mahncke did his undergraduate work at Rice University and received his PhD from UCSF, where he studied under Dr. Michael Merzenich, the world-renowned neuroscientist, who discovered lifelong plasticity and co-invented the cochlear implant. Dr. Merzenich would later co-found Posit Science, and recruited Dr. Mahncke to the company. After receiving his PhD, Dr. Mahncke became a consultant with the global strategy firm McKinsey & Co, where he led teams advising medical device companies and launched McKinsey’s video game practice.
After McKinsey, Dr. Mahncke served as a Vice Counsel on Technology to the British Government in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. At Posit Science, Dr. Mahncke established the company’s global scientific advisory boards and
extensive research program. That program has resulted in more than 150 published peer-reviewed articles on the efficacy of Posit Science brain exercises and assessments. Those articles show that the
exercises in its flagship online (and in app) product, BrainHQ, are the only commercially available brain exercises to broadly generalize – significantly improving standard cognitive measures (eg, attention, memory, processing speed, executive function) and generalizing to measures of real world
activities (eg, driving, balance, gait, mood, confidence, everyday cognition, health outcomes and costs).
Dr. Mahncke is also principal investigator on a number of government (eg, NIH, DoD) grants, and has been involved (as an investigator or consultant) with more research studies on the impact of cognitive training on older adults than probably anyone else on the planet. To date, studies of Posit
Science assessment and exercises have benefited from more than $80 million in research funding (largely through grants to independent university-based research teams).
Dr. Mahncke is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles and frequently presents at conferences and symposia. He has been extensively quoted in the press and has appeared on the Today Show, CNN New Day, Inside E Street and many other television and radio programs.
Posit Science, the leading provider of plasticity-based brain training and
assessments. In 2003, Dr. Mahncke was hired as the first employee of Posit
Science, to head its research efforts as VP of Research and Outcomes. He was named CEO in 2011.
Dr. Mahncke did his undergraduate work at Rice University and received his PhD from UCSF, where he studied under Dr. Michael Merzenich, the world-renowned neuroscientist, who discovered lifelong plasticity and co-invented the cochlear implant. Dr. Merzenich would later co-found Posit Science, and recruited Dr. Mahncke to the company. After receiving his PhD, Dr. Mahncke became a consultant with the global strategy firm McKinsey & Co, where he led teams advising medical device companies and launched McKinsey’s video game practice.
After McKinsey, Dr. Mahncke served as a Vice Counsel on Technology to the British Government in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. At Posit Science, Dr. Mahncke established the company’s global scientific advisory boards and
extensive research program. That program has resulted in more than 150 published peer-reviewed articles on the efficacy of Posit Science brain exercises and assessments. Those articles show that the
exercises in its flagship online (and in app) product, BrainHQ, are the only commercially available brain exercises to broadly generalize – significantly improving standard cognitive measures (eg, attention, memory, processing speed, executive function) and generalizing to measures of real world
activities (eg, driving, balance, gait, mood, confidence, everyday cognition, health outcomes and costs).
Dr. Mahncke is also principal investigator on a number of government (eg, NIH, DoD) grants, and has been involved (as an investigator or consultant) with more research studies on the impact of cognitive training on older adults than probably anyone else on the planet. To date, studies of Posit
Science assessment and exercises have benefited from more than $80 million in research funding (largely through grants to independent university-based research teams).
Dr. Mahncke is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles and frequently presents at conferences and symposia. He has been extensively quoted in the press and has appeared on the Today Show, CNN New Day, Inside E Street and many other television and radio programs.
Latest posts by Dr. Henry W. Mahncke (see all)
- How Tom Brady Uses a Brain Training App to Win - February 6, 2019