1.
What do 7.5 billion human brains need to thrive in the Digital Age,
and what are key opportunities to better equip them?
Chaired by: Dr. Cori Lathan,
Co-Chair of the World
Economic Forum’s Council
on the Future of Human
Enhancement
Sarah Lenz Lock, Senior Vice
President for Policy
at AARP and Executive
Director of the Global Council
on Brain Health (GCBH)
Álvaro Fernández, CEO and
Editor-in-Chief
of SharpBrains
Dr. April Benasich, Director
of the Baby Lab at
the Rutgers Center for
Molecular and Behavioral
Neuroscience

2.
Alvaro Fernandez
SharpBrains CEO & Editor-In-Chief
December 5th, 2017
The Future of Brain Health
and Enhancement

3.
1) 7.5 billion human brains need help to thrive in the digital
age
2) Lifelong neuroplasticity means those brains can be
enhanced
3) Mobile, sensing, wearable technologies, coupled with AI,
provide a new platform to harness that neuroplasticity
4) Entrepreneurship and investments are fueling accelerated
growth
5) Professionals are stepping up to help ensure appropriate
use
Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital,
pervasive and (hopefully) bright

4.
Improve
performance Delay
disease

5.
5 Data Points

6.
Source: The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness

7.
Brain health as HC priority
Offers great BH care
Monitor systematically
Annual mental check-up
AD pharma treatment
BT doesn’t work
Take charge
1-Strongly Disagree 2-Disagree 3-Neutral 4-Agree 5-Strongly Agree
Brain Health in 2025 will look
very different than in 2017…

8.
Brain health as HC priority
Offers great BH care
Monitor systematically
Annual mental check-up
AD pharma treatment
BT doesn’t work
Take charge
1-Strongly Disagree 2-Disagree 3-Neutral 4-Agree 5-Strongly Agree
Brain Health in 2025 will look
very different than in 2017…

9.
Enjoy a great virtual Summit ☺
Learn a lot, and
Connect a lot!
Finally…

10.
WHAT DO 7. 5 BILLION BRAINS NEED TO
THRIVE IN THE DIGITAL AGE, AND WHAT
ARE KEY OPPORTUNITIES TO BETTER
EQUIP THEM?
2017 SHARPBRAINS VIRTUAL SUMMIT: BRAIN HEALTH &
ENHANCEMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE
DECEMBER 5-7, 2017
Sarah Lenz Lock, JD
SVP for Policy, AARP
Executive Director, GCBH
Kathy Washa, Senior
Advisor, Member Value
Product, AARP

11.
21
A nonprofit helping people 50 and older improve the quality of their lives
PURPOSE: Empower people to choose how they live as they age
GLOBAL COUNCIL ON BRAIN HEALTH (GCBH):
Independent collaborative of experts from around the world working on brain health
& human cognition. Convened by AARP w/ support from AgeUK
PURPOSE - Offer trusted advice on what older adults can do to maintain and
improve brain health.

12.
10,000 people a day are turning 65 in the U.S.
Between 2012 and 2050,
adults age 65+ will nearly double in the U.S.,
reaching 84 million
By 2030, 1 in 5 Americans will be age 65 and older

13.
23
• People age 85+ will roughly triple in the U.S. between 2012 – 2050
• By 2050, more than 18 million Americans will be age 85 or older
• By 2050, more than 439,000 Americans will be age 100
or older

14.
24
2015-2017 BRAIN HEALTH
SURVEYS:
12,835 TOTAL RESPONSES
2015 Survey on
Brain Health
2,621 responses
2016 Survey on
Healthy Behaviors
and Well-Being
2,600 responses
2016 Survey on
Physical Activity
2,554 responses
2016 AARP Sleep
and Brain Health
Survey
2,464 responses
2016 AARP Social
Engagement and
Brain Health Survey
2,596 responses
AARP Research Colleagues
Laura Mehegan, Chuck Rainville, Laura Skufca

15.
25

16.
26
While everyone is interested in brain health,
the older you are, the more likely you are
worried about your brain health
40 +
• 33% say ability to remember
has decreased
• 68% know someone who has
or had dementia
65+
• 45% say ability to remember
has decreased
• 83% know someone who has
or had dementia

17.
27
Two-thirds of the 50+ are concerned about their own brain health or a
family member’s brain health declining. However, a higher percentage
are “very concerned” about a family member’s brain health compared
to their own.
24%
40%
18% 17%
33% 33%
15% 18%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Very concerned Somewhat
concerned
Not very
concerned
Not at all
concerned
Your brain health Family member's brain health

18.
28

19.
BRAIN
HEALTH
Empowering people to have a
healthier brain over their lifetime.

20.
30www.GlobalCouncilonBrainHealth.org

21.
31
GCBH Members
Expert Collaboration Thus Far
• 61 experts (13 Governance; 48 Issue Specialists)
• 41 Liaisons
• 19 countries represented
• 53 universities/organizations

22.
32
GCBH Reports & Infographics
Download at www.GlobalCouncilOnBrainHealth.org

23.
MOVE DISCOVER RELAX NOURISH CONNECT

24.
“Am I normal?”
“Who can I trust for brain
health info and
guidance?”
“What should I be doing
to improve my brain
health?”

25.
Science-based
Content
Brain Health
Assessment
A Personalized
Pathway
“Am I normal?”
“Who can I trust for brain
health info and
guidance?”
“What should I be doing
to improve my brain
health?”

26.
Brain Health Assessment

27.
Assess
Scientifically validated, evidence-based brain
health assessment, based on nearly 100,000
neuro-imaging studies and validated by
numerous peer-reviewed research.
Measures:
Executive Function Processing Speed
Recall Memory Sustained Attention
Working Memory Cognitive Flexibility
Questions address current lifestyle
behaviors around the five pillars of
brain health.
Cognitive Assessment Lifestyle Assessment
How is my brain performing? How do my daily habits support
my brain health?
Results inform and feed the Staying Sharp activity engine,
and a provide users with personalized recommendations.

28.
Behavior Change through Small Steps
39
Methodology:
Build behavior change into all aspects
of the Staying Sharp platform.
Approach:
Through small incremental changes
which users will progress in
endurance, difficulty, or frequency
over time. Every activity will allow the
individual to select where they start.
Metrics:
Staying Sharp’s data will allow us to
measure and truly understand our
impact.
39

29.
“I’ll do whatever it takes
for me to stay sharp.”

30.
41
GlobalCouncilonBrainHealth.Org
StayingSharp.Org
Sarah Lenz Lock
slock@aarp.org
@seniors2seniors

31.
April A. Benasich Ph.D.
Elisabeth H. Solomon Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Director, Infancy Studies Laboratory
Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience
Rutgers University - Newark
and
Chief Scientific Officer, AAB Research, LLC
Harnessing Early Brain
Plasticity To Support Lifelong
Cognitive Enhancement

32.
Why focus on the infant brain?
• Most effective point to enhance/remediate brain development
• Ability to produce lifelong results
• Knock-on effect of building the most optimal brain
RAPT® and Early Brain Plasticity
A Once in a Life-Time Opportunity

33.
The earlier you start, the easier and
quicker it is to optimize brain
development - and the more lasting
the results
Early investment results in bigger
bang for the buck—lifelong
improvement in cognition and
earnings, lower costs required for
intervention, special ed, tutoring,
juvenile delinquency, incarceration
WHY BOTHER WITH BABIES—THEY DON’T
VOTE AND DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY!

34.
EARLY LANGUAGE ACQUISITION and RAP
Starting at birth, the baby’s
developing brain is constructing an
acoustic map of the varying sounds
of his or her surrounding native
language.
Mapping of language-specific
acoustic contrasts in the 10s of ms
domain ultimately allows the child
to respond in a fast automatic way
to the incoming language stream.
The infant’s Rapid Auditory
Processing or RAP skill determines
how well or poorly its acoustic map is
formed.

35.
Imagine if parents could easily and naturally
“train” their babies’ brains to become the best
possible language processors!
Allow them to acquire and use words – and the information
those words convey – faster and more easily . . .
Help them be stronger, more advanced learners across
their entire lives . .

36.
47
THEY CAN!
Introducing Rapid Auditory Processing
Technology (RAPT®)
RAPT® is a patented and peer-reviewed interactive,
infant brain training technology that optimizes a child’s
auditory processing skills, leading to higher performance
in reading and language skills at five and six years old
and ultimately, improved lifelong cognitive outcomes.

37.
48
Active Auditory Exposure Impacts
Prelinguistic Acoustic Mapping
Benasich, A.A., Choudhury, N.A., Realpe-Bonilla, T., & Roesler, C. (2014). Plasticity in Developing Brain:
Active Auditory Exposure Impacts Prelinguistic Acoustic Mapping. J. Neuroscience; 2014; 34(40):13349-
13363.

38.
Benasich, A.A., Choudhury, N.A., Realpe-Bonilla, T., & Roesler, C. (2014). Plasticity in Developing Brain:
Active Auditory Exposure Impacts Prelinguistic Acoustic Mapping. J. Neuroscience; 2014; 34(40):13349-
13363.

39.
Group differences in latency and amplitude at
70ms ISI among the three groups at the 7-month
post-test
The AEx group is significantly faster than both PEx and NC
groups
The PEx group is significantly faster than the NC group.

40.
Untrained Infants vs. RAPT® Trained Infants
Faster, Stronger, More Accurate
Brain Responses to Speech-like Sounds
7-Month Typically
Developing
Untrained
7-Month Typically
Developing
RAPT® TRAINED

41.
➢Demonstrated that while both active and passive acoustic
experience from 4 to 7 months, using temporally modulated
non-speech stimuli, impacts acoustic mapping, active
experience confers a significant advantage.
➢Via ERPs, showed that active experience increases attention
to environmental acoustic stimuli (e.g., larger, faster P2
peaks) compared to passive experience or maturation alone.
➢Showed faster latencies for change discrimination peak (N2*)
that has been shown to be a robust infant predictor of later
language through age 5 years.
➢Evidenced sharpening for both trained and untrained
stimuli over and above that seen for maturation alone.
RAPT® Research Results

42.
DO THESE EFFECTS GENERALIZE TO LANGUAGE?
Active Exp
Passive Exp
Naïve Controls
ALL STANDARDS “DA”
Ortiz-Mantilla, Realpe-
Bonilla, Benasich, 2017
YES!

43.
➢ The accuracy of these crucial acoustic maps, and the child’s rapid
response to acoustic cues that signal “language”, are significant factors in
language and cognitive development and future learning.
RAPT® sharpens those maps and increases processing speed.
➢RAP abilities vary widely even in typically developing children. A baby-
friendly pre-linguistic, language-free intervention could narrow the ability gap
and put children on a level playing field by the time they go to school.
RAPT® improves processing speed and accuracy in ALL children.
➢8-15% of children will go on to suffer from language learning disorders
such as dyslexia that are linked to early auditory processing deficits. The
negative impacts of learning disorders are both substantial and exponential,
encompassing increased rates of educational failure, drug abuse, crime and
a loss of productive potential in afflicted individuals.
RAPT® alters EEG biomarkers that predict to later language deficits.
What do these RAPT® Research Results mean in
REAL WORLD terms

44.
The RAPT® AABy is HERE!
The London Times
Educational Supplement

45.
TRANSLATION TO REAL WORLD
RAPT® AABy™ Prototype
AABy™ is currently available as an infant-controlled, baby-friendly
working prototype.
Babies playing with AABy™ for as few as 8 to 10 minutes/week for 6 weeks
can achieve the same results as babies exposed to RAPT® in the lab.

46.
INFANT CONTROL & PARENTAL FEEDBACK ON
BLUETOOTH

47.
RAPT® Opportunity and Challenges
• Implements a neuroscience-based technology with scientifically
proven ability to bootstrap brain plasticity and advance the natural
brain development of young children.
• Embodied in an interactive, fun, “educational” toy which engages
and challenges infants without requiring active adult participation
– unlike many educational toys that claim to “enhance brain
development”– AABy™ is based on 15 years of peer-reviewed
neuroscience research.
• Provides parents an easy way to realize their desire to help their
children maximize their ability to learn.
RAPT®/AABy™ is pioneering a new category of highly
effective science-validated infant and children’s products
that may enhance lifetime brain function, support lifetime
brain plasticity and fend off learning disorders.
Want to know more? Contact me: benasich@rutgers.edu

48.
Thank you, Speakers & Participants!

49.
Thank you, Summit Sponsors!

50.
Thank you, Summit Partners!

51.
To learn more, visit sharpbrains.com