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‘Brain Games’ Do Not Improve Cognitive Function

While commercial brain-training programs have risen in popularity in recent years, a recent study found that commercial brain training did not impact one’s decision-making skills or cognitive function.

University of Pennsylvania researchers published the study, which used the brain training program Lumosity, in the Journal of Neuroscience.

A team of Penn researchers co-led by Joseph Kable, the Baird Term Associate Professor in the department of psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences, and Caryn Lerman, vice dean for strategic initiatives and the John H. Glick, MD, Professor in Cancer Research in the Perelman School of Medicine, were in search of an intervention that could reduce the likelihood that people would engage in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking or overeating.

Dr. Lerman’s previous research showed that people with stronger cognitive abilities tend to make less impulsive decisions on tasks when given choices between immediate smaller rewards and delayed larger rewards. The set of brain structures that mediate these choices have also been associated with performance on executive function tasks like the ones in the Lumosity battery.

For the study, a group of 64 healthy young adults was asked to follow the Lumosity regimen, performing the executive function games for 30 minutes a day, five days a week for 10 weeks. A second group followed the same schedule, but instead of using Lumosity, played online video games.

Participants then completed two decision-making assessments before and after the training regimen. As an assessment of impulsive decision-making, participants chose between smaller rewards now and larger rewards later. To assess risky decision-making, they were then asked to choose between larger rewards at a lower probability versus smaller rewards at a higher probability.

The researchers found that the training didn’t induce any changes in brain activity or decision-making during these tasks. Both groups did show improvement on the cognitive tests; however, the researchers found that commercial brain training didn’t lead to any more improvement than online video games, and a no-contact group that did not complete either commercial brain training or video games showed the same level of improvement as the first two groups. These results indicated that neither brain training nor online video games led to cognitive improvements beyond likely practice effects.

While the cognitive training did not offer the desired benefits alone, the researchers found that combining cognitive exercises with non-invasive brain stimulation enhances self-control over smoking behavior. The next step is to conduct clinical trials to determine whether a combined approach can help alter other risky behaviors.

Dr. Lerman said, “As currently available behavioral and medical treatments for these habitual behaviors are ineffective for most people, there is a critical need to develop innovative approaches to behavior change. Changing the brain to change behavior is the approach that we are taking.”

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