Train, don't train…
The brain simulator turned out to be no better than ordinary online games
American psychologists have tested whether the popular "brain simulator" helps to improve cognitive abilities. It turned out that similar results can be obtained with the help of ordinary computer games.
The group of Joseph Cable and Karin Lerman from the University of Pennsylvania conducted an experiment on people from 18 to 35 years old. 128 volunteers for 10 weeks played online games or solved tasks of the popular "brain simulator" Lumosity for half an hour a day.
The scientists wanted to test how the use of the "simulator" would affect decision-making and cognitive functions of the subjects. To do this, before and after the experiment, they were offered simple tasks to assess impulsivity and risky behavior and a test for cognitive abilities, as well as a functional MRI.
"Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no evidence that training affected brain activity in the decision–making process, risk sensitivity or impulsivity of decision-making," the scientists said in the article.
Moreover, when the results of the two groups were compared with the results of the third, in which no one played games or trained on Lumosity, it turned out that neither of the two groups showed a more significant improvement in cognitive abilities.
The authors note that, despite the negative result, the study was worth it: according to Cable, "we all would like to improve our cognitive abilities," and any special exercises that help develop such abilities should be carefully tested in experiments.
Article by Kable et al. No Effect of Commercial Cognitive Training on Neural Activity During Decision-Making is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
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12.07.2017