Preventing the Wrong Kind of Brain Plasticity, with Dr. Henry Mahncke

Henry Mahncke is the CEO of Posit Science and the creator of BrainHQ, the most researched brain training platform in the world. A neuroscientist who did his PhD with Michael Merzenich, considered the father of adult brain plasticity, Henry has spent two decades translating brain plasticity science into tools that actually improve brain health. In this conversation, we dig into why most brain training criticism misses the point, what the largest clinical trials really show, and why the future of brain health looks a lot like the evolution of physical fitness.

In this episode:
00:00 — Introduction and Henry's background (PhD with Merzenich at UCSF, McKinsey, founding Posit Science)
07:00 — Brain training vs. cognitive training: why the distinction matters
09:00 — Brain plasticity as the driver of brain health, and why cognitive reserve is really just brain health
13:00 — Maladaptive brain plasticity: how aging actively degrades information processing through negative plasticity
18:00 — How BrainHQ exercises are designed: adaptive speed and accuracy training from psychophysics
24:00 — The transfer and generalization debate: does brain training improve real-world function?
28:00 — Clinical trial evidence: the Mayo/USC RCT, the ACTIVE study, and 300+ published papers
34:00 — The pharmaceutical analogy: why asking "does brain training work?" is the wrong question
37:00 — Who is brain training for? From post-concussive disorder to Tom Brady
44:00 — Brain training as physical exercise: the case for everyone at every age
46:00 — Real-world brain plasticity activities: racquet sports, musical instruments, foreign languages
51:00 — Josh's Brainjo origin story and what music training does for the brain
55:00 — The loss of skill learning in modern life and education
58:00 — The "dark ages" of brain health and where the field is headed

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Intro and Outro music composed and produced by Julienne Ellen.