In popular culture, challenging games such as crossword puzzles and chess are often grouped togther as “mind games,” intellectually-stimulating activities that supposedly keep your mind sharp and even improve your intelligence. Several online programs, such as Lumosity, have even claimed that their games can protect your brain from age-related cognitive decline and help your mind achieve its full potential. But recent clinical research has cast doubt on the brain-boosting reputations of these so-called “mind games.”
In a controlled, randomized trial, a group of healthy young adults were evaluated for mental performance after playing video games. 64 individuals played Lumosity brain-training games for 30 minute sessions five times per week for 10 weeks, 64 others played web-based video games, and a control group did not play any games.
The researchers found that not only did the brain-training games fail to improve overall mental performance more than web-based video games, they also failed to enhance cognitive scores over the group that played no games at all. The study concluded that consistently playing Lumosity games, and other “mind games,” only improve the individual’s performance on each particular game, not overall mental performance.
In popular culture, challenging games such as crossword puzzles and chess are often grouped togther as “mind games,” intellectually-stimulating activities that supposedly keep your mind sharp and even improve your intelligence. Several online programs, such as Lumosity, have even claimed that their games can protect your brain from age-related cognitive decline and help your mind achieve its full potential. But recent clinical research has cast doubt on the brain-boosting reputations of these so-called “mind games.”
In a controlled, randomized trial, a group of healthy young adults were evaluated for mental performance after playing video games. 64 individuals played Lumosity brain-training games for 30 minute sessions five times per week for 10 weeks, 64 others played web-based video games, and a control group did not play any games.
The researchers found that not only did the brain-training games fail to improve overall mental performance more than web-based video games, they also failed to enhance cognitive scores over the group that played no games at all. The study concluded that consistently playing Lumosity games, and other “mind games,” only improve the individual’s performance on each particular game, not overall mental performance.
References
- Hampshire A, Sandrone S, Hellyer PJ. A Large-Scale, Cross-Sectional Investigation Into the Efficacy of Brain Training. Front Hum Neurosci. 2019 Jul 9;13:221. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00221. PMID: 31338032; PMCID: PMC6629869.
- Kable JW, Caulfield MK, Falcone M, McConnell M, Bernardo L, Parthasarathi T, Cooper N, Ashare R, Audrain-McGovern J, Hornik R, Diefenbach P, Lee FJ, Lerman C. No Effect of Commercial Cognitive Training on Brain Activity, Choice Behavior, or Cognitive Performance. J Neurosci. 2017 Aug 2;37(31):7390-7402. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2832-16.2017. Epub 2017 Jul 10. PMID: 28694338; PMCID: PMC5546110.
- Al-Thaqib A, Al-Sultan F, Al-Zahrani A, Al-Kahtani F, Al-Regaiey K, Iqbal M, Bashir S. Brain Training Games Enhance Cognitive Function in Healthy Subjects. Med Sci Monit Basic Res. 2018 Apr 20;24:63-69. doi: 10.12659/msmbr.909022. PMID: 29674605; PMCID: PMC5930973.
