Do brain-training exercises really work?

Story highlights Brain scientists butt heads over the effectiveness of brain training Cognitive training programs lack supportive evidence, a new review paper says One brain-training proponent calls the new study "silly" CNN — A battle has been brewing over whether brain training really works,leaving consumers stuck in the middle, scratching their heads. So if there is a placebo effect, it washes out across those groups,” Mahncke explained, adding that he thinks the new review paper condemning brain-training research and programs is “silly.” Many of the scientific studies on brain training that Mahncke called high-quality – including the largest cognitive-training intervention conducted yet, called ACTIVE, which involves 2,832 participants – are the same ones picked apart in the new review paper. As Simons, lead author of the new review paper, put it, “Different brain training companies propose different mechanisms.” “Most rely on the idea that training a basic cognitive mechanism using one task will lead not just to improved performance on that task but on all other tasks that rely on the same basic mechanism,” he said. But the controversy surrounding brain training seems to have heated up before the two companies faced their charges, about two years ago, when critics called it “pseudoscience.” The back-and-forth in brain science A group of 75 scientists and experts from institutions and universities around the world issued a statement in 2014 declaring that scientific evidence does not support claims that “brain games” help older adults boost their mental capabilities.