brain improvement game websites

[drhess]

Is the research behind the claims of websites like www.lumosity.com legit? I understand that the fee to use them (beyond the free games) is like paying for any game, in a way, but are the claims to help legit? Seems like the amount of play would have something to do with any possible result, so they cann’t promise much.

[kayT]

How funny; I came here to ask basically the same question. Anyone?

[Fiendish_Astronaut]

They don’t according to the study reported by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8630588.stm

The largest ever investigation followed 11,430 people over six weeks to see what effect, if any, playing brain training computer games would have.

While players got progressively better at the games, the gains were not transferable, Nature journal reports.

Players gained nothing in terms of general reasoning, memory, planning or visuospatial abilities, experts found.

But they say more work is needed to see if workouts for the mind can help keep the brain “fit” as it ages.

NB: this is just a section of the article.