-NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER-
SARA MAJEED
YES WAY
Brain games typically sound like childs play to those who hear that it is used for regaining and/or improving brain function. People usually scoff at them because they believe that brain training through a video game-like facilitator is preposterous because of the stigma behind regular video games. What brain training games actually aim to do is improve cognitive function by engaging certain parts of the brain such as memory and problem solving areas, and giving them a workout, video game style.
Treat Your Brain Right
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The extensive use of modern day technology and the expansion of social media websites of every type imaginable across the world wide web directly affect our brain and its chemistry. The brain is very complex and delicate. It needs rest from the day to day bombardment of media that it is faced with. The brain also has a special way of learning. It needs to be handled properly and guided step by step. With so much technology in front of our noggins at all times, how do we expect our brains to work at optimal capacity when we need them the most?
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Dr. David A. Sousa, an international education consultant focusing in neuroscience has written the book How The Brain Learns, a look into the parts of the mind that may help us in get a better grasp on brain processes during schooling. In one particular section, Dr. Sousa hones in on the students brain. The modern day student is surrounded by all types of technology and media. They have access to television, computers, the internet, smartphones, video games, email, etc. With all this constantly going on around our younger generations, one may think that they have become more accustomed to and just plain better at multitasking than the rest of us. Wrong. The brain may make it seem like the body is capable of carrying out more than one activity, or directing its attention in four different places simultaneously, but the fact is that the brain cannot concentrate on more than one thing at a time. Dr. Sousa instead refers to this as "task switching." What the brain essentially does during task switching is focus on task A, then switch to task B, then back to task A. In his book, Dr. Sousa explains that when task switching occurs, significant cognitive loss is inevitable. The brain is simply unable to divide itself in mentally oriented tasks - so, just about everything.
Now, knowing the brain is incapable of multitasking, it is clear to see how brain function drastically decreases with an increase of technology into our daily lives. While you try to talk to your mom on the phone, watch Breaking Bad on the big screen, and type up that super important email for work, you exceedingly increase the risk for errors and inadequate retention, up to 50 percent (Sousa, 2011). If our students are performing at that kind of rate on homework and projects done outside the classroom, where they are more susceptible to social media, television, and distracting video games, then how well do we expect them to do in the classroom?
Not only does technology affect learning and brain processes, but repeated and constant exposure to social media can induce mental illness and disorders. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, social media and internet use come with the emotionally debilitating potentials of cyberbullying, depression, anxiety, and exposure to inappropriate content that affects not only children, but the entire family.
Technology itself is not the enemy. Our world is evolving and we must roll with the times. Plus, technology is pretty freaking cool. The real problem is how we are not utilizing our brains. We are becoming lazier and taking for granted the best computing system there is to offer. If we can spend hours on Facebook or playing Call of Duty, we can spend 20 minutes a day revitalizing our brains with brain training games. We can stimulate cortexes than can help our students focus in school and help remember important dates for work. Brain games can be the jumper cables for a future full of new possibilites, we just need to have some faith.
How Do Brain Games Work?
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The brain is an ​incredible organ. It powers an entire body, can rewire itself, and works around the clock. However, the brain is also fickle. It may learn step by step, gradually, but that doesn't mean it'll learn reading from a book in front of it. In fact, the brain learns best hands on. Brain games provide the brain stimulation from visuals, to cognitive problem solving. You won't be bored, and your brain can get an effective workout.
Brain training games are designed to utilize the brain's unbelievable ability to rewire itself over and over again, referred to as neuroplasticity. In between the fun of the game being played, the exercises stimulate and work parts of the brain the game is geared towards to improve.
Posit Science focuses on Attention, Memory, Brain Speed, Intelligence, People Skills, and Navigation, while Lumosity trains Memory, Attention, Speed, Flexibility, and Problem Solving, and Learning Rx exercises Long Term Memory, Processing Speed, Logic and Reasoning, Short Term Memory, Visual and Auditory Processing, Attention, and Word Attack.
The brain is vast and much of it is still incomprehensible and undiscovered. The skills listed above have been extensively researched but are by no means are the end all be all of the human mind. These are parts of the brain we need the most in every single day of our lives. The use of brain games can provide researchers with even more data that is essential to the unraveling of the brain. Cognitive ability has immense potential. We can start by refreshing and improving it through brain training games, and continue to divulge into the maze that is the brain.
The Results
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Learning Rx, a company solely geared towards brain training since 2003 has released by far the most impressive results of brain training I have ever seen. Below is significant data directly from the 2014 Learning Rx Training Results.
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Figure 1. Percentile Improvements - Severe Cognitive Weakness
Before brain training is begun, Learning Rx utilizes the Woodcock-Johnson tests of Cognitive Abilities and the Woodcock-Johnson tests of Achievement to gauge where their clients stand in cognitive ability. According to Figure 1, clients that were evaluated and had severe cognitive weakness, something we may expect to see in the elderly, possibly those with little to no education, and drug abusers, improved cognition by an average of 29 percentile points. All the graphs depicted are the results of 6,000+ clients of Learning Rx after having completed 18 weeks of brain training through brain games.
Figure 2. Percentile Improvements - Moderate Cognitive Weakness
According to Figure 2, clients that were evaluated and had moderate cognitive weakness, something we may expect to see in internet addicts, drug users, and possibly our own youth, improved an average of 27 percentile points.
Figure 3. Percentile Improvements - Above Average Cognitive Skills
Figure 3 presents evidence that even those who technically do not need the services of Learning Rx, can still improve. These clients improved cognitive function with an average of 14 percentile points.
Figure 4. IQ Scores Before and After One-on-One Brain Training
Figure 4 shows an astounding increase in IQ points after clients have completed their brain training. For my inquiry project, I have never claimed that brain games raise IQ and can make us more intelligent, for that seems a bit far fetched to me. What I have been stating so far is that we need to take a breather from the extreme technology takeover and multitasking we think our brains can get away with everyday. I advocate for brain games in the sense that we need to keep essential parts of the mind sharp, not that they would make us smarter. In this case however, Learing Rx claims some serious results in IQ points, and that really got my attention. In Figure 5 below, studies conducted by Dr. Kirk Cameron and Amy L. Moore conclude with an incredible increase in IQ with an average of 15 points across all levels of cognitive weakness! Now that is something to look into for future brain games.
Figure 5. Average IQ Point Gain
Figure 6. One Year Retention
Seeing such drastic changes in IQ was fascinating, but I thought that that may be where it ends. Retention rate for almost anything is low if there is not constant or occasional revision of the subject(s). In Figure 6 however, Learning Rx has demonstrated that brain training games do indeed have the ability to leave an impression that lasts - their studies averaging with a 98 percent retention rate in IQ levels. The studies are real and the proof is there. Brain games work at not only refreshing and sharpening what you already have, but they could in turn raise intelligence as well.
That's Not All
Lumosity, another company geared solely towards cognitive improvement through brain training games has published 13 peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations on the effectiveness of Lumosity games. Currently, Lumosity is working on 45+ new studies and projects around the world. Below are just a few of the published findings from Lumosity.
This study, focusing primarily on memory based brain games examined game score data on 132,147 participants. 16 year olds had the best memory, with memory declining for every age year after that, with the elderly in the bottom percentile. The results of the study concluded with only a 7 percent difference in memory scores between 16 year olds and 70+ year olds. It is obvious that brain function declines with age. This study proves that cognitive rehabilitation is essential for all ages.
Lumosity also likes to focus on the medical side. Studies on the brain in cancer survivors and girls with Turner Syndrome have been shown to improve cognitive function even with their ailments and genetic predispositions. In a 2013 study conducted by Dr. Shelli Kesler, Assistant Professor and neuropsychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, it was demonstrated that breast cancer survivors that were trained in the areas of executive brain function: working memory, verbal fluency, processing speed, and cognitive flexibility. The study was conducted over the course of 48 Lumosity brain training sessions and revealed improved scores on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test used to guage their standing. The significance of the study is from the fact that cancer has a detrimental effect on the brain throughout the illness, chemotherapy, and environmental stress. If brain games can help improve executive function in cancer survivors, the rehabilitation can spread to other parts of the brain as well, such as the limbic system, where emotions are thought to be present. If the brain feels rejuvinated, the brain feels happy, and in turn the body can change as well. This is incredible positive improvement for cancer survivors who have suffered through the unimaginable.
Turner Syndrome, a genetic disorder in which a female does not have the essential two X chromosomes for proper female development, impairs brain anatomy and function. The study conducted by Kesler et al. at Lumosity consisted of 16 participants with Turner Syndrome who brain trained for six weeks. The results are apparent in Figure 7 below.
Figure 7. Changes in the Prefrontal Cortex Facilitated by Brain Training in Participants with Turner Syndrome
The study concluded with activity emerging in the frontal lobe. Participants demonstrated significantly increased basic math skills, including number sense, and calculation as well as processing speed, cognitive flexibility and visual-spatial processing skills (Kesler et al., 2011). Brain training games have been shown to help those who need it the most, and should be reconsidered by society as a new age of learning and improvement for the masses.
