Life in Research

Efficacy of brain training programs questioned

The brain training industry cites scientific evidence for their programs, but how widespread are any cognitive improvements?
Published in Neuroscience
Go to the profile of Alan Woodruff
Alan Woodruff
Community Editor, Queensland Brain Institute
Efficacy of brain training programs questioned
Like

Share this post

Choose a social network to share with, or copy the URL to share elsewhere

Share with...

...or copy the link

This is a representation of how your post may appear on social media. The actual post will vary between social networks

A clinical trial in Melbourne, Australia, into the effectiveness of brain training —in this case working memory training —has found no evidence that it improves general academic outcomes in children. The finding complements a 2014 consensus statement from leading cognitive psychologists, which argued that brain training games produced no benefit to everyday cognition, and could not slow or reverse age-related cognitive decline. While the Melbourne study did report temporary improvements in short-term memory, another recent investigation found that improvements after brain training may be no more than a placebo effect, as reported by Forbes.

Go to the profile of Alan Woodruff
Alan Woodruff
Community Editor, Queensland Brain Institute

Please sign in or register for FREE

If you are a registered user on Research Communities by Springer Nature, please sign in

Sign In Register

Cookies

We use cookies to ensure the functionality of our website, to personalize content and advertising, to provide social media features, and to analyze our traffic. If you allow us to do so, we also inform our social media, advertising and analysis partners about your use of our website. You can decide for yourself which categories you want to deny or allow. Please note that based on your settings not all functionalities of the site are available.

Further information can be found in our privacy policy.

Cookie Control

Customise your preferences for any tracking technology

The following allows you to customize your consent preferences for any tracking technology used to help us achieve the features and activities described below. To learn more about how these trackers help us and how they work, refer to the cookie policy. You may review and change your preferences at any time.

See the full cookie policy See the full privacy policy
More information

These trackers are used for activities that are strictly necessary to operate or deliver the service you requested from us and, therefore, do not require you to consent.

More information

These trackers help us to deliver personalized marketing content and to operate, serve and track ads.

More information

These trackers help us to deliver personalized marketing content to you based on your behaviour and to operate, serve and track social advertising.

More information

These trackers help us to measure traffic and analyze your behaviour with the goal of improving our service.

More information

These trackers help us to provide a personalized user experience by improving the quality of your preference management options, and by enabling the interaction with external networks and platforms.