Defending Brain Training

We’re pro brain-training at The Great Brain Robbery, so when we see articles that suggest brain-training doesn’t “work,” we’re a bit biased. We offer this self-description as a form of full disclosure before proceeding to the following discussion.

An article at Science Daily (a website we have much respect for and read every day) reports on a study forthcoming in Psychological Science. This study assigned older adults to one of two groups: one group learned new skills such as photography, while the other were tasked with listening to music and doing puzzles at home. Both groups included subjects who were assigned social tasks to mitigate for such an effect. Researchers found that those who where assigned to learn a new skill had better memory improvement.

The article quotes the scientists as saying “It seems it is not enough just to get out and do something -- it is important to get out and do something that is unfamiliar and mentally challenging …. When you are inside your comfort zone you may be outside of the enhancement zone.”

This makes sense, and is very encouraging, because for anyone with a brain, there should be a world of challenges available to keep the mind sharp. And while playing video games is not the same as taking an eight-week course on Taiwanese Dessert Decorating, at least games can still be challenging, and importantly, readily available.

But, we want to point out that his study does not mention a control group of subjects who did neither the skill-seeking activities nor the home puzzle activities. So while, yes, while learning basket weaving on a three-week trip through Namibia would probably be very good for the brain, this doesn’t mean that challenging yourself to play brain training games wouldn’t.

Note also that the article calls listening to music and doing puzzles “non-demanding mental activities.” We especially disagree with this assertion, in as much as doing crossword puzzles can be merely an “exercise” (like, on a Monday) whereas anyone who’s noodled through a Friday New York Time crossword puzzles knows how challenging—and stimulating, not to mention rewarding—it can be to finish one.

So the take-away we’re going to agree-upon with this research is that: more research needs to be done. And in the meantime, there is no good reason to play games. And fun is its own reason.