My Plastic Brain ─ One Woman's Yearlong Journey to Discover If Science Can Improve Her Mind

Using herself as a guinea pig, a science journalist explores "neuroplasticity" to find out whether she can make meaningful, lasting changes to the way her brain works.

Although brain training is all the rage (as marketed by companies such as Lumosity), recent scientific studies indicate that it doesn't actually do much to make you smarter. So what does?

Visiting top neuroscientists in their labs, the author volunteers herself as a test subject, challenging researchers to make real changes to her imperfect brain. She seeks to improve on weaknesses such as her limited attention span and tendency to worry too much. She then branches out into more mysterious areas such as creativity and the perception of time.

Trying everything from high-tech brain stimulation to meditation, while retraining her stress response, she shares her intimate journey with readers to discover what neuroscience can really do for us.

Caroline Williams is a freelance science writer and editor and a consultant to New Scientist magazine. She also writes for the BBC and the Guardian newspaper among other outlets. She is the editor of the New Scientist Instant Expert guides How Your Brain Works: Inside the Most Complicated Object in the Known Universe and Your Conscious Mind: Unravelling the Greatest Mystery of the Human Brain. She has also coproduced and presented the New Scientist podcast, web, and promotional videos.