Forget about working crossword puzzles and listening to Mozart. If you want to improve your ability to reason and solve new problems, just take a few minutes every day to do a maddening little exercise called n-back training.
In an award address on May 28 at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science in Washington, D.C., University of Michigan psychologist John Jonides presented new findings showing that practicing this kind of task for about 20 minutes each day for 20 days significantly improves performance on a standard test of fluid intelligence—the ability to reason and solve new problems, which is a crucial element of general intelligence. And this improvement lasted for up to three months. [continue reading…]
Brain training games do not improve overall brain power, a scientific study launched by the BBC suggests.
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. The study clains computerized mental workouts don’t boost mental skills. 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.
Books and video games that claim to stimulate grey matter are little more than useless, according to the experts. So what can we do to sharpen our minds? Dan Roberts reports.
Image credit:iStockphoto
How would you describe your mental state at this precise moment? Alert, razor-sharp and crystal-clear? Or a tad foggy perhaps, struggling to remember the name of that … actor who played … Now what’s his damn name ?… Just watched the DVD last week!
Sadly, as advancing years take their toll, many of us fall into the latter camp – unable to remember names and dates that we once plucked from the past with ease, and labouring over the easy Sudoku or the quick crossword. And age is not our only enemy: chronic stress, persistent overwork, a hectic and energy-draining lifestyle, the attention-span obliterating nature of quick-fire communications such as texting and Twitter – all conspire to make us feel frazzled and dull-witted. <!–more–> Source:The Independent
