It's an attractive idea: By playing online problem-solving, matching and other games for a few minutes a day, people can improve such mental abilities as reasoning, verbal skills and memory. But whether these brain training games deliver on those promises is up for debate.
A research team gathered more than eight thousand volunteers globally after collecting their submission of an online questionnaire about their training habits and which, if any, programs they used. Some one thousand participants reported using brain training programs for about eight months, on average, though durations ranged from two weeks to more than five years. Next, the volunteers completed 12 cognitive (认知) tests assessing their mental abilities. They faced specially designed memory exercises, such as mentally rotating objects, pattern-finding puzzles and strategy challenges.
When looking at the results, researchers saw that brain trainers on average had no mental edge. Even among the most dedicated, who had used training programs for at least 18 months, brain training didn't boost thinking abilities above the level of people who didn't use the programs. Participants who had trained for less than a month, also performed on par with people who didn't train at all.
"No matter how we sliced the data, we were unable to find any evidence that brain training games were connected with cognitive abilities," says leader of the team. That held true whether the team analyzed participants by age, program used, education or socioeconomic status – all were cognitively similar to the group who didn't use the programs, suggesting that brain training games don't live up to its name. Accordingly, the study advocates no more time sitting at a computer and doing little tasks.
