The idea of playing a game to make you sharper seems like a no-brainer. That’s the thinking behind a billion-dollar industry selling brain training games and programs designed to boost cognitive ability.
But an investigation by CBC’s Marketplace reveals that brain training games such as Lumosity may not make your brain perform better in everyday life.
Brain training games, such as Lumosity, are a billion-dollar industry. Many people are worried about maintaining their brain health and want to prevent a decline in their mental abilities. (CBC)
Almost 15 per cent of Canadians over the age of 65 are affected by some kind of dementia. And many people of all ages are worried about maintaining their brain health and possibly preventing a decline in their mental abilities.
“I don’t think there’s anything to say that you can train your brain to be cognitively better in the way that we know that we can train our bodies to be physically better,” neuroscientist Adrian Owen told Marketplace co-host Tom Harrington.
- CBC Marketplace: Mind Games
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To test how effective the games are at improving cognitive function, Marketplace partnered with Owen, who holds the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging at the Brain and Mind Institute at Western University.
Continue —> Brain training games: No proof they prevent cognitive decline – Health – CBC News.
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