Training your brain with an app or game will make you a better player. But do these brain games make you more intelligent? Of the scant amount of research we found, there’s not enough to suggest brain training makes you smarter. This consensus is based on 3 experts answers from this question: Do brain games work?
Scanning your favourite app store will reveal dozens of games that claim to help your brain work better. One popular game claims ‘While playing our brain games, you not only get a lot of fun, but also gradually improve your memory, attention and concentration’. ‘Get smarter by improving your abilities with this fun logical memory game’, says another. Is that true? Do brain games work? Here’s the science.
Much like a workout
Practice makes perfect is the old saying. But doing squats at the gym helps your leg muscles, not your overall fitness. For the brain, certain games help you train for the specific tasks involved but are unlikely to affect the overall fitness of your nervous system.The fact that you become a better player over time does mean that some changes occur in your brain, explains cognitive neuroscientist Professor Michael Thomas from Birkbeck University of London. However, it is not clear if you can “transfer the training” to different areas of mental work.There are games to help you learn national flags, for example. Train seriously enough and you will remember each and every one of them (Seychelles, anyone?). Yet you might still struggle to remember your grocery list. Professor Robert Sternberg from Cornell University agrees. While playing brain games makes you better at them, he says, whether they increase your intelligence is a very different question.
There are several recent meta-science studies that conclude there is no evidence that brain games can help maintain brain function in healthy mid-age adults or later in life. These studies are also unable to determine whether, in people who already have minor problems with cognition, brain training can prevent dementia. The authors complain that the quality of the available research is patchy, with interventions set out to examine this not lasting long enough to allow for reliable conclusions. Evidence for a link between formal education and overall intelligence, by contrast, is a lot more robust.
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🎮What are brain games and what do they claim to improve? 👾Can brain games improve overall cognitive function and intelligence? 🎮🎧Can brain games help prevent dementia in healthy adults?What about video games?
Dr Nachshon Meiran, an expert on cognitive science from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, explains that there is some controversy in the field, with some reports suggesting that brain games are useful being published in decent journals. One example that grabbed quite some media attention a few years ago was a study on video games. Research from 2013 argued that 12 hours of playing video games can improve reading in children with dyslexia, supposedly by enhancing their visual attention and their ability to extract the meaningful bits from the environment. As a result, the young players were faster at reading, without making any more mistakes. Games could even help prevent dyslexia before it developed, the authors said. Fast forward 4 years, these researchers were able to show similar results with English-speaking children. Before you rush off to sit your kids in front of the Wii though, you should take this science with a grain of salt. In these studies, researchers were comparing kids who played action video games with others who played a non-action video game. This is why some argue that these studies lacked proper standards and should have instead tested whether these games are more or less effective than the good old face-to-face psychotherapy.
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👾Do video games improve reading skills in children with dyslexia? 🧑🧒Are there any cognitive benefits to playing video games for children with dyslexia?Lack of high-quality research
The quality of research so far is on brain games is lacking. Another study notes research so far are beset by small numbers of subjects, questionable generalisations, poor or duplicate reporting and lack of independent validation. Even if companies selling training games are keen to proudly claim their products are backed by neuroscience, Dr Thomas remains skeptical. He argues that that companies tend to use neuroscience rather as mere ‘window-dressing’ to hook customers.
There may be some value in brain games in that they give a sense of empowerment, and the risk of harm is low, but allocating time to playing brain games might mean less time for potentially more helpful activities (such as doing physical exercise or taking a school- or job-related course), so you might want to also factor that in.
Takeaway
Stay mentally, physically and socially active to keep your brain healthy. When it comes to brain training apps though don’t expect too much, just play them for fun if you like!
Learn more with Consensus AI Academic Search Engine:
📚Is there strong scientific evidence that brain games improve overall intelligence? 🧐What are the limitations of current research on brain games and cognitive improvement? 🎓Do brain games provide the same cognitive benefits as physical exercise or formal education?