Human Growth and Development / Unit 13 HGD 1826 review, 2 to 3 minutes
Brain Games
The idea
Commercial brain-training games promise to keep minds sharp and even ward off dementia. The evidence behind the promise is mixed. Observational studies find that adults who do games, crafts and social activities show less cognitive impairment later. But observational links cannot separate cause from selection: people whose minds are already healthier may be the ones who seek out puzzles and hobbies. Practice improves performance on the practised task. The harder question is transfer: whether training on a computer game improves everyday cognition or prevents disease. That question is being tested in randomized trials, including a large trial of computerized training, and so far the evidence that training protects against dementia is inconclusive. The diet findings in this unit tell a similar story: a randomized trial of a brain-healthy diet found no cognitive benefit over a control diet.
In practice
Two sixty-year-olds, one playing a brain-training app nightly and the other gardening, volunteering and meeting friends, and the open question of which, if either, protects cognition, and why.
Where people slip
The misconception is that brain-training games prevent Alzheimer's disease. The evidence is inconclusive, and claims that go beyond it are marketing, not science. Being mentally, physically and socially active is associated with healthier aging, and trials are testing which activities help and by how much. Unit one's distinction between correlation and experiment is the whole story here: activity and cognitive health travel together, but only a trial can show that one causes the other. The course describes the research; it recommends no product. For the exam, know that the evidence for brain training preventing dementia is inconclusive, and why observational evidence cannot settle it. Evidence, not enthusiasm, settles the question.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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