世論 What Japan Thinks

Dentsu Inc recently carried out a survey (their “Trendbox Research”, to use the brand name) to find out what people thought about their brains. At the start of January they interviewed 400 people from up and down the country. Exactly half and half of the respondents were male and female, and 100 people were in each decade of life from the twenties to the fifties.

Brain training is rather a hot topic in Japan today; products on sale range from books of simple arithmetic or simple kanji to read out loud, to the Nintendo DS Brain Training game series, to which I actually contributed a very, very small part!

Oh, and here’s a bit of brain training I learnt about on TV a couple of weekends ago for getting rid of some chronic fatigue. The idea is that you need to stimulate your frontal lobes before going to bed, as increased activity there results in more cortisone and serotonin, which gets your body recharged quicker, or something like that. So, in addition to taking in sufficient B complex vitamins and calcium, before you go to sleep press your temples as you slowely breath out, then release as you breath in. Repeat ten times, then just before you sleep picture someone’s face – it works best if it is someone you dislike, apparently, but make sure you don’t dislike them too much and stress yourself out!

Q1: Have you ever felt your brain has been atrophying? (Sample size=400)

	Often feel so	Sometimes feel so	Don’t really feel so	Never feel so
All	30.0%	48.8%	16.8%	4.5%
Male N=200	24.0%	50.5%	18.5%	7.0%
Female N=200	36.0%	47.0%	15.0%	2.0%

As one might expect, looking at the age breakdown, the older one got, the more one likely one was to feel that one’s brainpower was deteriorating.

Q2: Do you think you want to train up your mental faculties (brainpower)?

	Definitely want to	Want to	Don’t really want to	Don’t want to at all
All	35.5%	54.3%	10.0%	0.3%
Male N=200	32.0%	56.0%	11.5%	0.5%
Female N=200	39.0%	52.5%	8.5%	0.0%

There was no real trend obvious from the male breakdown by age, but for women, the younger ones were more sure of the need for training.

Q3: If you were training your brainpower, which mental faculties would you want to to train up? (Sample size=400, up to three answers)

	All	Male N=200	Female N=200
Memory	72.8%	66.5%	79.0%
Conceptual/imaginative/creative power	37.0%	45.0%	29.0%
Logical thought	37.0%	45.0%	29.0%
Judgement/decision making	32.8%	31.0%	34.5%
Concentration	31.3%	31.5%	31.0%
Communication	22.3%	21.5%	23.0%
Arithmetic	15.3%	12.5%	18.0%
Prediction/inference	14.8%	13.0%	16.5%
Knowledge retention	11.3%	8.0%	14.5%
Aestheticism	5.8%	3.0%	8.5%
Spacial awareness	4.5%	1.5%	7.5%
Speed reading	4.3%	6.5%	2.0%
Other	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
None in particular	1.3%	1.5%	1.0%

Q4: Why do you think you want to train your brain? (Sample size=359, multiple answer)

	All	Male N is unknown	Female N is unknown
To ward off forgetfulness and senility	71.3%	60.8%	81.4%
Want to preserve my healthy brain	66.0%	56.8%	74.9%
To have abundant ideas and concepts	37.0%	47.7%	26.9%
To enrich hobbies and leisure time	31.5%	30.1%	32.8%
Want to draw out latent abilities	25.9%	31.3%	20.8%
Because it’s needed for today’s working environment	24.5%	35.2%	14.2%
To get qualifications or enhance career	16.4%	24.4%	8.7%
Brain training itself is fun	15.9%	17.5%	14.2%
Because I want to say I have a good brain	7.0%	5.7%	8.2%
Because brain training games or devices are in fashion	4.5%	1.7%	7.1%
Other	0.3%	0.6%	0.0%
No particular objective	0.8%	0.0%	1.6%

Looking at the detailed age breakdown, the most significant thing of note is that for both men and women, those in their forties were most concerned about warding off senility and maintaining their mental faculties.

Q5: In order to train your brain, what sort of things have you done? (Sample size=400, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=200	Female N=200
Solve quizzes and riddles	43.5%	40.5%	46.5%
Play games or do puzzles	43.3%	40.5%	46.0%
Do arithmetic	34.8%	36.0%	33.5%
Move my body (light aerobics, wiggle fingers, etc)	27.3%	27.5%	27.0%
Do handwriting or read out loud	26.3%	23.0%	29.5%
Get sufficient sleep	22.0%	19.0%	25.0%
Appreciate art or music	19.8%	21.0%	18.5%
Discuss or converse	15.8%	19.5%	14.0%
Do sports	12.3%	17.5%	7.0%
Chew food thoroughly	11.5%	9.0%	14.0%
Early to bed, early to rise	7.9%	4.5%	11.0%
Do correspondence courses or night school to get qualifications	7.5%	8.5%	6.5%
Do yoga or take a walk in the woods	5.8%	3.5%	8.0%
Eat good for the brain food	4.8%	5.5%	4.0%
Take good for the brain supplements	4.5%	5.5%	3.5%
Other	3.0%	2.5%	3.5%
Haven’t done anything in particular	24.3%	26.0%	22.5%

Q6: In order to train your brain, what sort of things might you like to do in the future? (Sample size=359, multiple answer)

	All	Male N is unknown	Female N is unknown
Play games or do puzzles	49.3%	49.4%	49.2%
Move my body (light aerobics, wiggle fingers, etc)	44.3%	41.5%	47.0%
Solve quizzes and riddles	42.3%	43.2%	41.5%
Do arithmetic	39.8%	39.8%	39.9%
Get sufficient sleep	36.2%	36.4%	36.1%
Do handwriting or read out loud	30.9%	27.8%	36.6%
Appreciate art or music	30.9%	30.6%	31.3%
Discuss or converse	26.5%	29.5%	23.5%
Eat good for the brain food	25.9%	26.1%	25.7%
Chew food thoroughly	25.3%	19.9%	30.6%
Do sports	24.2%	28.4%	20.2%
Early to bed, early to rise	22.8%	19.3%	26.2%
Do yoga or take a walk in the woods	22.6%	15.3%	29.5%
Do correspondence courses or night school to get qualifications	17.8%	23.3%	12.6%
Take good for the brain supplements	12.5%	15.3%	9.8%
Other	1.4%	1.1%	1.7%
Don’t definitely know yet	7.0%	8.5%	5.5%