http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8632254.stm

Discuss.

I might reject this reality and substitute my own as they say in some other (pseudo)science-based show, because I find brain games fun and I do think it exercises my brain.

What happens if the task you're doing is readily applicable to other areas of cognition? How does speed fit into all this? If before using a brain game you're quite slow at maths, say, and after playing a brain game you speed up quite a lot, wouldn't that be an improvement already if you can apply that to daily life or other problem solving, and might not that improve cognition in reasoning and logic for example? I find the results surprising.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but did anyone ever claim that these games were supposed to improve cognition or brain function to begin with? I remember some studies a few years ago that said these kinds of games can help to ward off dementia and Alzheimer's but I've never seen anyone claim that they will make you smarter.
When I played brain age a few years back, I did notice that it helped me get much faster at simple arithmetic and short term memory, of course that's to be expected since that was basically what you do in the game. Fast arithmetic is a handy skill sometimes, so it's nice to practice it now and then.

I don't think anyone really thought Brain Age, etc. would actually increase intelligence or general cognitive abilities. What we do know is that keeping mentally active through games like these, crosswords, reading, socializing, etc. staves off senility.

However, there was an interesting post on this a while back, where researchers HAVE developed software that does seem to improve overall cognitive ability by improving working memory: Forget Brain Age: Researchers Develop Software That Makes You Smarter.

Yeah this is a nice addition, for critiquing overblown claims of commercial software, to the link I posted in kendo99's link (it was from a Guardian article criticising that software before I went on to post about exercises we do have research for). I did check the relevant paper (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vnf...e09042.pdf) for mention of n-back/Jaeggi's research (no mention or reference).

Speaking of which, here's a better article on that multitasking training reference in the Forget Brain Age thread: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090715/f...9.690.html

Personally, even where they mention "beyond those tasks that are actually being trained" and the mental activity that kendo mentioned, I think it's worthwhile to find tasks you'll want to do well in real life and simply train those in simpler form... we have a natural bias towards certain definitions of metacognition that I don't think hold up well to scientific evidence, but that's another topic... (Mostly tied to my thoughts on episodic/implicit connections, but to connect this to previously posted links on Dehaene/Dennett [global neuronal workspace + fame in the brain] at the end of robot/animal thread, see also: Kinsbourne and Hampton.)

ah, I wasn't sure whether to credit you or ruiner with that link ;P

kendo99 Wrote:ah, I wasn't sure whether to credit you or ruiner with that link ;P

All the cool kids know we're the same, but I did retire ruiner, so. ruiner was too snarky. ;p

So does playing a game about Japanese (SRS, or that Hiraganatetris game, or what have you) improve your Japanese ability? Or does it just improve your ability in that one game?

I don't think SRS is a terribly fun game though. Especially the adding part because it's so self-directed.

You can create games to improve skills in various areas, they are just generally more targeted than being able to improve overall cognitive ability, although, it is also really more complicated than that. I think the mistake in the first place is talking about "intelligence" as if there is one thing that is intelligence. But, most of what people mean when they say "intelligence" is essentially working memory, and the ability to access it quickly and accurately.

EDIT: Also, I never was a "cool" kid, just a smart one, so I figured that out through inference even though you cool guys didn't tell me. lol