Results Of A Study Into Improving Memory By Applying Brain Training Games

As we grow older, we occasionally think that we would like to provide our perhaps failing brain faculties a bit of a supercharge. One method of improving memory and other brain skills appears to be brain training. This consists of a variety of computer activities developed to assist you become better skilled at a variety of brain functions like memory, problem-solving and simple mathematics. Curiously though, we have a tendency to think that due to the fact we become advanced at playing the brain training games, that these competencies are instantly transferable and thus beneficial in other brain functions that we have to carry out.

The multi-million dollar brain training games industry would no doubt claim that its mental exercises are based on sound neurological theory and that therefore there is a reasonable possibility of improving your memory and other skills through using its mind exercise software. They have not however, at least to my knowledge, published the results of any studies that they have made into this area.

Well, recently the very revealing results of a large UK study into the effectiveness of brain exercises on improving memory etc. have been published, and they are probably not what you would have predicted. BBC television conducted this research in conjunction with the British Medical Research Council and the Alzheimer's Society.

They wanted to find out whether playing a number of computer-based activities, including memory exercises, over a six week period of time, each developed to exercise different parts of the brain, would result in participants in the research to be better able to utilize their brain skills in other arenas not connected to playing brain training games. The research included a good cross-section of 13000 of the adult British public.

In accordance with proper experimental design practice, there were two groups of participants in the experiment. Volunteers were randomly assigned either to the experimental or the control group.

The experimental group spent ten minutes a day for six weeks playing a set of brain training games designed to exercise a large spectrum of mental skills including improving memory . When retested at the end of the study, their ability to perform the brain games they had trained on had improved by a third, against their initial performance in them. The control group spent the same amount of time as the others surfing the internet.

The objective of the research was to discover if becoming competent at brain training tasks would bring about improvement in the same skills when used in a different circumstance. So both groups of subjects were tested prior to and following the experiment in their ability to perform tasks such as problem-solving and recalling number sequences.

If you believe that brain training games can play a part in improving memory, then you might find the results a little surprising. There was actually a small improvement in the performance of both groups and what's more this improvement was virtually identical in the two groups. So even though there was some improvement, the lack of statistical significance between the two sets' results means that this could not be attributed to the training.

However, people who enjoy brain exercises should not lose heart. Firstly, speaking from personal experience, if nothing else, they are a lot of fun! Beyond that, even though you should not expect them to help with improving memory , there are certainly a number of other strategies for improving your memory and other mental abilities, which have been scientifically-proven. These include diet, reading, taking physical exercise and listening to music.