News Taffy

Do you spend time playing online games? Are you addicted to Words With Friends or Bejeweled? You certainly aren’t the only one as evidenced by the sheer number of online games available. For some it is a way to pass a few minutes waiting for their kid’s practice to end but for others, these games become an obsession.

You may have noticed a new type of game recently which promise to improve your brain function while you have fun. The premise behind these games is that you can improve and develop your brain with stimulating games just as you can develop your muscles by working out at the gym. They claim to improve your memory, concentration and increase the speed at which you process information. But do they really work and are they worth the money? Many must think so as brain training has become a multi-million dollar business.

Scientists used to believe that all brain development occurred early in life and was set by adulthood. Now they know our brains can continue to develop throughout life. However, we also know that many areas of our brain function deteriorate as we age, like the ability to multitask. Studies on these brain games have had mixed results. Test subjects do indeed show improvements after training for several weeks but these gains may or may not carry over into other daily tasks though they do seem to last even after 10 years. One study did show that the test group had far fewer car accidents over time than the group that did not do any brain training games, suggesting that these games did increase alertness and perhaps reaction time.

One thing is clear: brain games will not prevent Alzheimer's or other degenerative conditions. They are also not likely to increase your overall intelligence. Exercise and socialization have been shown to have positive effects on our cognitive function as we age. Other stimulating activities like learning a new language, how to play bridge or conquering trigonometry can also improve your brain function and intelligence. There is certainly no harm in playing these games but you may find that you can maintain or improve your brain function in other ways that may interest you more than sitting in front of a screen. But who knows, it may be better to play a game that challenges your memory rather than a mindless game like Candy Craze.

If you are interested in checking out some of these games, here are a few websites to try. Remember that you must pay for many of these games. Lumosity (http://www.lumosity.com) is one of the biggest and best known online sites and presents many scientific studies and claims to back up its games. Others are Happy Neuron (http://www.happy-neuron.com) and Cogmed. Brain Metrix (brainmetrix) is the only free website I found in a limited search.

Happy playing!