Brain Game RevolutionKimberly Dietz

English 2522/23/2013

Introducing Brain Training Games

• Cognifit, the first electronic brain training program was released in 2004.

• Other companies including Cogmed, Nintendo, and Lumosity followed.

• Now a trillion dollar industry, the number of people participating in brain training

activities grows every year.

Lumosity• Today, Lumosity is

the world’s most popular brain training software with 35 million users.

• Lumosity claims that playing their games one can improve their fluid intelligence.

Fluid Intelligence• “Fluid intelligence refers to the ability to reason

and to solve new problems independently of previously acquired” (Jaeggi, 2008).

• For over a century, psychologists have searched for a way to improve fluid intelligence with little success.

• In 2008, psychologist Susanne Jaeggi conducted a study designed to prove Lumosity could improve fluid intelligence.

Jaeggi’s Study• Step one: subjects

complete an administered reasoning test

• Step two: subjects were divided into four groups

• Step three: subjects played Lumosity’s game, dual-back training

• Step four: subjects retake administered reasoning test

The results for Jaeggi’s showed that the fourth group had the highest gain in reasoning test scores and the control group had the lowest.

Redick’s Follow Up Study• Psychologists Tom Redick

and David Hambrick were skeptical about Jaeggi’s results.

• They conducted a follow up study using the same procedure as Jaeggi, except instead of completing one test of reasoning, subjects completed eight.

The results to Redick’s study showed no significant difference in scores among the control group and any of the four test groups.

BBC Lab UK Study• Following Redick’s study, BBC Lab UK

conducted the largest brain training games study thus far.

• 11,430 subjucts, ages 18-60• Three groups• All three groups complete a series of tests

designed to measure cognitive abilities including memory, reasoning, and learning before and after the study.

BBC Lab UK Study Results• First group: practiced a

variety of reasoning, planning, and problem solving activities online

• Second group: played brain training games

• Third group: control group, searched for answers to random questions online.

The results showed no significant difference in test results among all three groups.

BBC Lab UK Study Results

ConclusionAs a technique to lure in and maintain users, Lumosity tracks their scores over time and compares them to those of other users. Lumosity allows its users to feel accomplished and intelligent with minimal effort in a very short period of time. Because playing brain training games on Lumosity may certainly improve abilities concerning those specific games, users have been fooled into believing that improvements have been made in over-all cognitive abilities. It’s easy to see how several millions of people and counting have been enticed to join the brain game revolution. However, as shown by the results of these studies, brain training games have little to no impact on one’s cognitive abilities.

Questions?

Bibliography

• http://psychscoop.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/can-brain-training-make-you-smarter/

• http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-brain-parenchyma.htm

• http://www.lumosity.com/landing_pages/188?gclid=CKHF7aKYzrUCFZE-MgodoEEASw