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Brain Training Games Don't Train Your Brain
Stoobalou writes with this excerpt from Thinq.co.uk: "A new study has shown that brain training games do little to exercise the grey matter. Millions of people who have been prodding away at their Nintendo DS portable consoles, smug in the knowledge that they are giving their brains a proper work-out, might have to rethink how they are going to stop the contents of their skulls turning into mush."
It's one thing to ask whether these tests make you "smarter". But even the story says they improve speeds in taking the brain tests. I also notice that the control group didn't just sit there doing nothing, they used the Internet, which may have "exercised the brain" in some fashion, assuming they weren't reading /.
Also, there does seem to be evidence that mental activity can ward off Alzheimer's and "Research has also found that cognitive leisure activities reduce the risk of cognitive decline."
Maybe it doesn't serve a practical purpose for some people, but it seems among the elderly at least there may be some benefit (?)
On average, PhD.s have much healthier brains than most people, even in their 90s or older. They have less incidence of dementia, alzheimers(sp?), and other forms of mental illness. Studies have shown that taking courses at community college, or learning a new language, can help sustain one's mental health in retirement.