Does Brain Training Work?

That’s the headline of an article posted on sharpbrains.com - http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2013/05/22/does-brain-training-work-yes-if-it-meets-these-5-conditions/

 

My first thought that, if it doesn’t, I’m sure wasting a lot of $ on Lumosity.

My second thought was “Ok, I guess I better read a bit more.”The article goes on to list five “conditions” for actually working. Those conditions are:

1. It must engage and exercise a core brain-based capacity or neural circuit iden­ti­fied to be relevant to real-life out­comes (Yes, please be relevant to my life)
2. It must target a performance bottleneck (Somehow everything above my neck seems to be a bottleneck)
3. A minimum “dose” of 15 hours total per targeted brain function, performed over 8 weeks or less, is necessary for real improvement. (Ok, let me see that’s about two hours a week. If I divide 120 minutes by seven days a week … wait, who am I kidding!? I won’t do this every day. Ok, maybe five days a week, that makes it almost a half hour a day – almost doable.)
4. Training must adapt to performance, require effortful attention, and increase in difficulty. (Ok, I buy that)
5. Continued practice is required for continued benefits (Just like dieting)

All you brainiacs can read the full article @ http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2013/05/22/does-brain-training-work-yes-if-it-meets-these-5-conditions/

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