porttraveler.blogg.se

A min­i­mum “dose” of 15 hours total, per­formed over 8 weeks or less, is nec­es­sary for real improve­ment.Core brain capacities are the basis of wide-ranging cognitive health and performance outcomes in real life. To ensure broad cognitive transfer, the training must “exer­cise a core brain-based capac­ity or neural cir­cuit iden­ti­fied to be rel­e­vant to real-life out­comes, such as exec­u­tive atten­tion, work­ing mem­ory, speed of pro­cess­ing and emo­tional reg­u­la­tion”. Transfer only works when it meets these conditions (the quotes are from this article): Known conditions of effective brain training There were absolutely no transfer effects…I think the expectation that practising a broad range of cognitive tasks to get yourself smarter is completely unsupported. Skills on the specific exercises improve with practice, but these exercises do not result in general improvements in brain function. A large study published in the scientific journal Nature has recently shown that the more popular brain training apps such as Lumosity do not improve general cognitive ability. Lumosity develops skills in the games themselves, without transferring beyond the game to general cognitive benefits such as IQ, emotional regulation or decision-making.

It is a major player in the market, and because people invest time and money into its subscription-based membership, it demands closer scrutiny to sort out the reality from the hype.Įvidence for training transfer to real lifeĪccording to the scientific consumer research group Sharpbrains, brain training only works when it results in transfer to real benefits in daily life. Lumosity, co-founded by Michael Scanlon after he abandoned his neuroscience PhD at Stanford University, California, has grown by 150% year-on-year since its launch in 2005 and now reaches millions of people worldwide.

In recent years, brain training has become a multimillion-pound business with companies such as Lumosity and Nintendo developing a wide range of user-friendly ‘brain games’ for the average punter. Lumosity is popular, but its benefits are very limited.