There are no conclusive studies that specifically test NeuroNation. The results fit the general pattern - subjects perform much better at closely-related tasks, and some of those skills might transfer, but the effects were usually not significant enough for researchers to be certain. This is the most well-known cognitive training app, which means it has been fairly well-studied. Though there are dozens of brain-training apps, these are some of the most popular, along with what science has to say about them. Many others are unreliable since they were not conducted independently, and some suffer from poor experimental design. While there are many other studies that support the idea of brain training, and plenty of neuroscientists still endorse certain aspects of the idea, the vast majority of these studies are focused on subjects with some form of dementia, brain injury, or other existing cognitive issue. There are dozens of other studies in the same vein, all with similar findings. Tasks that were closely related to the brain-training activities did tend to improve, but there was little visible evidence of skill transfer to more distantly-related tasks. In 2016 another group of neuroscientists published a review of the relevant evidence and found that even including the studies most commonly cited by proponents of brain training, there was, in most cases, insufficient evidence of measurable benefits. The brain-training group improved at the tasks they were doing in the brain-training app but scored the same as the other two groups on other measures of cognitive activity. In 2017 a group of neuroscientists tested a group of 128 healthy young adults, comparing the effects of brain-training games to either normal video games or no games at all. The body of research, however, has generally come down on the negative side. Neuroscientists have been interested in these brain-training programs since they started to become popular, and several of the platforms are actually designed by neuroscientists themselves. Whether all of those studies directly support their product, or whether the studies themselves are well-conducted, is another matter – and the FTC seems to agree, having handed down several fines to Lumosity and other brain-training companies for false advertising. Lumosity, NeuroNation, BrainHQ, LearningRx, Elevate, and many other apps have sections of their websites dedicated to displaying their scientific credentials, some of which are fairly impressive. Brain training has been a research topic of interest for quite some time, and evidence has emerged in several studies that demonstrates legitimate improvements. Many programs advertise that they are backed by such scientific evidence, and to some degree that is true. Neuroscience has legitimate ways of observing and testing the concepts that these programs claim to enhance, like executive function and working memory, so if brain training has benefits, it should be observable. The most common benefits touted by brain-training programs include improvements to your working memory, decision-making ability, and information processing speed.
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People with brain injuries may experience some improvements, but playing memory games may not help the average person find their car keys any faster.Īlso read: 10 of the Best Brain-Training Apps for Android and iOS The claims Overall, it is likely that cognitive benefits from brain training do exist, but they do not necessarily apply outside of the app.