Does brain training work? What the evidence says

If you practise a memory game, you will usually get better at it, and sometimes at very similar tasks. Researchers call improvement on untrained tasks “transfer”. The open question is whether that transfer reaches everyday abilities, such as remembering appointments or following a conversation.

Owen and colleagues asked 11,430 participants to train online several times a week for six weeks on tasks covering reasoning, memory, planning and attention. Participants improved on the tasks they trained. Compared with a control group, they showed no transfer to untrained tasks, even when those tasks were closely related.

A meta-analysis of working memory training by Melby-Lervåg and Hulme found short-term improvements on similar tasks but no convincing evidence that they generalised to other skills.

Simons and colleagues reviewed the evidence cited by brain-training companies and the wider research literature. They found extensive evidence that training improves trained tasks, less evidence for closely related tasks and little evidence for improvements in everyday cognitive performance.

Mnesica is a practice for curiosity and enjoyment: a short daily challenge, a clear record of your own performance and levels to work toward. It does not give brain-age scores or diagnoses, and it makes no claim of clinical benefit.

If your goal is to learn and remember particular material, the research on spaced practice, retrieval practice and chunking is a better place to start. If you are worried about changes in your memory, talk to a doctor.

1. Owen, A. M., Hampshire, A., Grahn, J. A., Stenton, R., Dajani, S., Burns, A. S., Howard, R. J., & Ballard, C. G. (2010). Putting brain training to the test. Nature, 465(7299), 775–778. doi:10.1038/nature09042
2. Melby-Lervåg, M., & Hulme, C. (2013). Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review. Developmental Psychology, 49(2), 270–291. doi:10.1037/a0028228
3. Simons, D. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., Gathercole, S. E., Chabris, C. F., Hambrick, D. Z., & Stine-Morrow, E. A. L. (2016). Do “brain-training” programs work? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(3), 103–186. doi:10.1177/1529100616661983

These notes summarise published research for general readers. They are not medical advice.

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