Why brain training doesn’t work

| November 13, 2015

Brain training your way to genius is a lovely thought, says Dr Jenny Brockis. Too bad it’s not possible.

Does brain training work? Wouldn’t it be good if it did? The idea of using brain training as a means to boost our mental capacities, keep us sharp and one step ahead of the pack is highly appealing.

No wonder the brain training industry has burgeoned into a billion dollar behemoth as we log onto our online brain training games on the way to work, in between meetings, in meetings.

If you were hoping that brain training would make you smarter and boost your intelligence — sorry, it doesn’t. No amount of brain training is going to make you smarter than the average bear and most of the games available at the lower end of the market while fun are, for the most part, just entertainment.

The holy grail of cognitive advantage

Training the brain implies we can drive our neurobiology to our advantage through our choice of focus and practice in those functions we want to get better at. But as any novice violin player knows, starting out to learn a new skill can be awkward, clumsy (and sometimes excruciating to the ears), though with practice and repetition we get better and faster.

Avoiding getting stuck in a brain rut means trying something new, and not just one thing either. A cognitive smorgasbord of delight is ideal coupled with continuing challenge. In the workplace we can do this by choosing to step up to learn new skills while learning something new outside of work broadens our capacity to think more creatively and widen our lens of perspective.

Building our capacity for complex reasoning and decision-making is highly desirable, however the lure of using brain training to boost performance without first addressing the modern workplace maladies of silo mentality, bullying, and micromanagement is akin to expecting a course of antibiotics to work against a viral infection.

Brain training can work when applied appropriately

There are now a number of well-substantiated studies that show cognitive training programs do improve cognitive function in certain groups.

These include commercial and military pilots using cognitive training for specific transferable skills. Older drivers using a structured brain-training program stay driving safer for longer. Medical studies are evaluating the benefit of cognitive training following stroke, brain injury or in the recovery from some neuropsychiatric conditions.

If your workplace doesn’t match these, your hard-earned training budget dollars can still be spent in a useful way if:

(a) there is a specific thinking bottleneck that needs addressing such as increasing mental processing speed or focus;

(b) it provides a structured program that is user-friendly, has clearly tangible benefits for the participant and monitors progress.

What about playing some videogames instead?

With 1.23 billion people around the planet playing videogames for an hour each day, these are clearly popular, although the benefit of those 1.73 billion minutes spent playing Candy Crush could be disputed.

Video games are great to develop a faster speed of mental processing and peripheral awareness skills. They are fun and rewarding causing our brain to release more dopamine, which motivates our desire to continue to play (sometimes a bit too much).

Laparoscopic surgeons who relax with a little video gaming each week have been shown to make up to 37% fewer errors and enjoy a 27% faster completion rate in surgery. Is this the new criteria by which to choose our laparoscopic surgeon?

Unfortunately it is the action video games (which can be pretty gory) that provide the most benefit. They contrast to some of the brain training programs that can sometimes only be described as mind-numbingly boring — unless you find following bubbles or numbers floating around the screen riveting.

Introducing the three musketeers of high performance

1. Physical activity

Hooray! Exercise, movement or anything that gets us off our bottom, primes our brain for better attention, mood and thinking.

2. Human connection

Effective communication, learning, trust and collaboration work so much better face-to-face.

3. Brain challenge

Elevate your cognitive finesse by learning a second language, playing a musical instrument or writing a poem! This works especially well if it is a skillset we don’t expect to be good at because this makes our brain work harder and drives our neuroplasticity.

For those of us who are healthy, working hard and looking to improve our mental performance, what works is to use the far less sexy though effective means of stretching our mental muscle though improving our brain health and engagement with our world.

If you enjoy the current brain training games available that’s fine. Just don’t expect too much more than improving at the games you play!

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