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Do "Brain-Training" Programs Work?

Daniel J Simons1, Walter R Boot2, Neil Charness3

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign dsimons@illinois.edu.

Psychological Science in the Public Interest : a Journal of the American Psychological Society
|October 5, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Brain games show limited effectiveness for improving cognition beyond trained tasks. Many studies lack rigorous design, questioning the broad claims of cognitive enhancement from brain training interventions.

Keywords:
brain trainingcognitivecognitive traininglearningskilltransfer

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive science
  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Conflicting scientific opinions exist on the efficacy of brain-training interventions for cognitive improvement.
  • A lack of standardized evaluation methods has hindered consensus on brain game effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To provide a comprehensive review of brain-training literature using defined best practices.
  • To evaluate the quality and quantity of evidence supporting brain-training claims.

Main Methods:

  • Defined best practices for evaluating cognitive training interventions.
  • Assessed published peer-reviewed studies cited by leading brain-training companies.
  • Focused on interventions using cognitive tasks to enhance performance on other tasks.

Main Results:

  • Brain training significantly improves performance on trained tasks.
  • Limited evidence supports improvements on closely related tasks.
  • Little evidence shows benefits for distantly related tasks or everyday cognitive performance.
  • Many studies exhibit design or analysis flaws, precluding definitive conclusions.

Conclusions:

  • Current evidence for broad cognitive benefits of brain training is weak.
  • No cited studies fully met best practices for demonstrating efficacy in everyday activities.
  • Recommendations are provided for improving future research quality and policy.