Can playing computer games make you smarter?
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I’m always a little worried about getting stupid (stupider?), and so I’m intrigued by software programs I’m hearing about that exercise or “train” the brain with puzzles, games, teasers, etc.
Programs like Nintendo’s popular Brain Age, developed by Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima, supposedly help stave off age-related cognitive decline, which they say starts around the age of 30. (This seems totally unfair, since I spent my entire 20s behaving like an idiot.)
“Brain training” may also help folks stay mentally limber at any age.Whether that’s the case or not, it probably can’t hurt.
What the experts say
“There’s an obvious parallel with physical fitness and the idea of exercising and giving muscles time to relax and regenerate. The same is important for the brain. You can over-train and overstress the brain. You can also under-stimulate. It’s important to find a balance. The brain tends to get lazy when it’s only responsible for routine movements and functions. If you present it with a new challenge, it does seem to formulate new dendritic and synaptic connections, encouraging more sprouting. If you have a lot of unused neuro-pathways, the brain is going to get rid of them.”
GEORGE ROZELLE, director, MindSpa Mental Fitness Center, Sarasota, Florida
“Per year, the cerebral cortex loses about 1 per cent of synapses after age 30. Our neurons begin to atrophy relatively early in middle age. [Whether exercising the brain can stave off mental decline] is an open question. The larger point is, if you’re physically and mentally active and healthy, on average you show slower loss of function than somebody who’s overweight, doesn’t exercise and is unhealthy. That’s the safest statement right now.”
CALEB FINCH, professor of gerontology and biological science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
“There is no data for most of [these brain training exercises]. If you like to play games, that’s fine. Some people think it prevents age-related diseases. If you’re doing something that’s stimulating, it’s going to be good for your brain. Reading a magazine or newspaper, I’m going to learn new things and adapt to new aspects of the world, so things are going to change in my brain. It’s always better to be doing something intellectually stimulating than doing nothing. But are these exercises better than playing chess, going to the movies or discussing important things? Not necessarily. We all agree that playing a video game repeatedly will improve our competence at that game, but will it make you a better driver? There is no proof at this point. That transfer to daily life is really the key point.”
SYLVIE BELLEVILLE, associate research director, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal
“A number of published studies show brain training exercises can be effective. You want exercises that target specific core brain functions. You want things that are underpinnings of more complex activities of daily living. Studies show that improving one’s attention will have a positive impact on daily life. Others show that training working memory can improve your ability to think creatively about new problems. You need to do tasks that are relatively novel for you. Crossword puzzles are great, and if you enjoy them, that’s fantastic, but if you’ve been doing the same kind of crossword puzzles over and over again, you’re really just exercising one mental muscle. Another key component is adaptivity. Tasks need to start easy and get hard. Some research suggests that brain training can improve outcome in kids with ADHD, but no results prove that brain training can prevent dementia. That is highly controversial at this point.”
JOE HARDY, director of research and development, Lumos Labs, San Francisco
“Studies show that long-term sensorimotor or cognitive training can change brain structure. We use musical training as our paradigm to examine whether long-term training and practice of skills change the brain. In general, it could work with other activities as well, as in the new “brain training” games. We do know that younger brains are more likely to show plastic changes than older brains. However, the effects have been shown in older brains as well. We’ve recently examined older patients recovering from strokes who can show structural brain changes with intense training over a long period of time.”
GOTTFRIED SCHLAUG, director, Music, Neuroimaging and Stroke Recovery Laboratories, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston
