Comments on: Episode 128: Do Brain Training Games Work?

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:27:24 +0000

jbq: excellent point about the need for a longitudinal study in this area. I definitely do think that plasticity is a key recent finding (gotta do an episode on that topic – can’t believe I haven’t done one yet) and yes, I’m certain that older folks can learn lots of new things (a little slower than they used to, but still…). I might mention your point about the need for a longitudinal study in the next episode.

By: jbq

jbq — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:20:47 +0000

How about doing Sudokus and stationary bike while listening to classical music?
More seriously I think that even ” 40 hours of brain training” may not be as relevant as a lifetime. A longitudinal study in this case would be more appropriate. Do people who practice sudokus and cross words since their young age grow older cognitively better than the others?
The plasticity of the brain is very intriguing. Do you think as we are getting old we can still learn new things, however some of the neural connections seem to ” shut off” as we do not use them?

Thank you for the pod-casts, they are very interesting and informative. You do a wonderful job

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:19:34 +0000

Andy: I had never heard of the book Successful Aging so I checked it out in Amazon – looks really interesting and I found an inexpensive used copy so I bought it. I’ll definitely take a look and see if there’s some good info in it for a podcast. Thanks for the heads up!

By: Andy

Andy — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 07:15:05 +0000

Have you looked into Succesful Aging?
I thought that would be quite relevant to this podcast.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:52:35 +0000

Dorothy: glad you like the podcast. That’s quite an impressive list of activities! You’re a busy person. I wish my mother were involved in all those cognitively stimulating activities. I have to wonder if all those activities aren’t keeping you sharp. Thanks again for your comment.

By: Dorothy

Dorothy — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:50:46 +0000

First the above website is one of several; not finished, however. Second, you could call me an “aging parent” as I am a parent, actually a grandparent and great grandparent and I am 3 years away from orbiting the sun 90 times (90-3=87). I like to say I have orbited the sun so many times rather than I am so many years old. It makes me feel younger. I am interested in these brain training programs because I would like to make some money on the Internet promoting them. However, as far as my cognitive skills: I taught Anatomy and Physiology for 20 years. I maintain my interest in those topics. I watch courses by The Teaching Company. From time to time I try to learn calculus; I do some things with other math topics such as number theory. I think my cognitive skills are maintained or enhenced by these activities rather than the brain training games. And, for me, are much more interesting. Oh, forgot, another discipline that I try to learn more about is physics plus I do a lot with the computer (making money on the Internet, no luck so far, but fun designing web sites.
So, just adding to your comments. Your mother is only a little older in years than I am. I hope she and your father do well.
Interesting podcast.

By: Egon Elbre

Egon Elbre — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:57:55 +0000

The usual approach of just playing the game would just strengthen the specific pathways needed to do the exercise. The different way of solving the exercise would develop new pathways. The catalyst would show how to use the new pathways for different tasks.

When you learn how to count birds fast with grouping, it might not transfer to math skills. A catalyst would be needed for the transfer of skill. Basically it’s a method how to apply the newly acquired skill (counting groups) in a different field. So when I want to calculate
36 * 3 i’ll count 36, 72, 108.

An other example would be memory games. If you also show how to remember better and use mnemonics etc. and also how to use them in real life then the memory games should (just a guess) be just as effective as just learning mnemonics.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:39:10 +0000

Egon: I have to tell you that honestly I’m not following this idea of “catalyst for transfer”.

Isabel: Yours is the first feedback on the length issue, so we’ll see what else I hear, but you make a good point. I did read a good article which showed the effectiveness of physical exercise on cognitive ability (see Colcombe and Kramer above) but I didn’t discuss it because I tried to keep the episode below 20 minutes.

Maybe you’re right: I mean, if people want headlines they can get headlines – but where you can go these days to get some in-depth information? Maybe I should stick to the longer format.

I’ll let you know what else I hear in the next episode.

By: Isabel

Isabel — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:58:03 +0000

I might be in the minority, but I’d prefer having fewer, longer, more in-depth podcasts rather than more frequent, shorter ones. I appreciate hearing not only conclusions, but the reasons behind them.

Just as an example, in this podcast you concluded that brain training games don’t work, and cited several studies. Then you went on to recommend physical exercise to improve mental abilities, without any cites. I would have appreciated hearing any research to support that recommendation.

Thanks for letting me air my opinion. I love your podcast.

By: Egon Elbre

Egon Elbre — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:45:41 +0000

I’ve been thinking about brain training games and maybe you need a different way of exercising or a catalyst for transfer.

Usually person would just train their normal way of thinking. But what if those games/exercises suggest another way of thinking.

For example a game where you count birds. Usual approach would be to just estimate or count one-by-one. Eventually you’ll get faster and better but no significant improvement.
If you change your technique to counting-by-groups there is an significant improvement. (That means you group birds into 10 or more and start counting 10, 24, 37 and so on.) This teaches you a new way of thinking and maybe now it transfers to other things like adding/subtracting numbers.

Now a catalyst for a transfer would show how to apply this skill. For example 4*24 is same as counting 4 times group of 24 birds. So 24, 48, 72, 96.

What do you think about this?