Benjamin Keep, PhD, JD | The best brain training app is NOT the one you're thinking of. @benjaminkeep | Uploaded September 2021 | Updated October 2024, 18 minutes ago.
Brains. It would be great if we could train them, huh? But what if the best brain training app turns out to be a commercial video game?
Some researchers put the brain training question to the test, comparing the benefits of the brain-training app Lumosity to the benefits of playing a regular, old game—Portal 2.
The results, as they say on the internet, may surprise you.
00:00 Introduction
00:28 The Research Design
01:47 The Results
02:46 The Brain Training Game Game
04:01 Irony Time!
05:06 What About Portal?
For more about how our brains use imagination to solve problems, check out: youtu.be/-lzzI4jRY7E
Maybe grad school is the best brain training game? Check out: youtu.be/elamGFfeDGg
Link to the FTC settlement notice: ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/01/lumosity-pay-2-million-settle-ftc-deceptive-advertising-charges
Link to the Lumosity research article page: lumosity.com/hcp/research/completed
Sign up to my email newsletter, Avoiding Folly, here: benjaminkeep.com
References:
The main study this video was based on:
Shute, V. J., Ventura, M., & Ke, F. (2015). The power of play: The effects of Portal 2 and Lumosity on cognitive and noncognitive skills. Computers & education, 80, 58-67.
(available at https://myweb.fsu.edu/vshute/pdf/portal1.pdf)
For a ridiculously comprehensive take on brain training apps, circa 2016, see:
Simons, D. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., Gathercole, S. E., Chabris, C. F., Hambrick, D. Z., & Stine-Morrow, E. A. (2016). Do “brain-training” programs work?. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(3), 103-186.
(available at https://www.ontwerpenvoordementie.nl/assets/simonsetal_2016-braintraining.pdf)
An interesting test of brain training games to completely non-active controls.
Bainbridge, K., & Mayer, R. E. (2018). Shining the light of research on Lumosity. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 2(1), 43-62. (currently at link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41465-017-0040-5)
This is more of a correlational study, but finds no association between long-time brain trainers and cognitive function:
Stojanoski, B., Wild, C. J., Battista, M. E., Nichols, E. S., & Owen, A. M. (2020). Brain training habits are not associated with generalized benefits to cognition: An online study of over 1000 “brain trainers”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
(available at owenlab.uwo.ca/pdf/2020%20-%20Stojanoski%20-%20Journal%20of%20Experimental%20Psychology.pdf)
Studies that win the irony award for being cited on the Lumosity website, but demonstrating that Lumosity doesn’t really improve things.
Withiel, T. D., Wong, D., Ponsford, J. L., Cadilhac, D. A., & Stolwyk, R. J. (2020). Feasibility and effectiveness of computerised cognitive training for memory dysfunction following stroke: A series of single case studies. Neuropsychological rehabilitation, 30(5), 829-852.
(currently at tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09602011.2018.1503083) [No clear benefit of Lumosity in several case studies; high variability.]
Ruiz-Marquez, E., Prieto, A., Mayas, J., Toril, P., Reales, J. M., & Ballesteros, S. (2019). Effects of nonaction videogames on attention and memory in young adults. Games for health journal, 8(6), 414-422.
(currently at researchgate.net/profile/Soledad-Ballesteros/publication/334717472_Effects_of_Nonaction_Videogames_on_Attention_and_Memory_in_Young_Adults/links/5ddd61a5299bf10bc3294eb6/Effects-of-Nonaction-Videogames-on-Attention-and-Memory-in-Young-Adults.pdf) [Finding no difference between Lumosity and a normal video game in improved memory and attention - actually didn’t have a real control, so who knows what led to the improvement]
Lassonde, K. A., & Osborn, R. M. (2019). Lumosity does not best classroom memory improvement strategies. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 5(1), 1. (paywall at psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-62909-001) [Finding no additional improvement from using Lumosity, at least as far as I can tell from the abstract; it’s behind a paywall.]
Brains. It would be great if we could train them, huh? But what if the best brain training app turns out to be a commercial video game?
Some researchers put the brain training question to the test, comparing the benefits of the brain-training app Lumosity to the benefits of playing a regular, old game—Portal 2.
The results, as they say on the internet, may surprise you.
00:00 Introduction
00:28 The Research Design
01:47 The Results
02:46 The Brain Training Game Game
04:01 Irony Time!
05:06 What About Portal?
For more about how our brains use imagination to solve problems, check out: youtu.be/-lzzI4jRY7E
Maybe grad school is the best brain training game? Check out: youtu.be/elamGFfeDGg
Link to the FTC settlement notice: ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/01/lumosity-pay-2-million-settle-ftc-deceptive-advertising-charges
Link to the Lumosity research article page: lumosity.com/hcp/research/completed
Sign up to my email newsletter, Avoiding Folly, here: benjaminkeep.com
References:
The main study this video was based on:
Shute, V. J., Ventura, M., & Ke, F. (2015). The power of play: The effects of Portal 2 and Lumosity on cognitive and noncognitive skills. Computers & education, 80, 58-67.
(available at https://myweb.fsu.edu/vshute/pdf/portal1.pdf)
For a ridiculously comprehensive take on brain training apps, circa 2016, see:
Simons, D. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., Gathercole, S. E., Chabris, C. F., Hambrick, D. Z., & Stine-Morrow, E. A. (2016). Do “brain-training” programs work?. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(3), 103-186.
(available at https://www.ontwerpenvoordementie.nl/assets/simonsetal_2016-braintraining.pdf)
An interesting test of brain training games to completely non-active controls.
Bainbridge, K., & Mayer, R. E. (2018). Shining the light of research on Lumosity. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 2(1), 43-62. (currently at link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41465-017-0040-5)
This is more of a correlational study, but finds no association between long-time brain trainers and cognitive function:
Stojanoski, B., Wild, C. J., Battista, M. E., Nichols, E. S., & Owen, A. M. (2020). Brain training habits are not associated with generalized benefits to cognition: An online study of over 1000 “brain trainers”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
(available at owenlab.uwo.ca/pdf/2020%20-%20Stojanoski%20-%20Journal%20of%20Experimental%20Psychology.pdf)
Studies that win the irony award for being cited on the Lumosity website, but demonstrating that Lumosity doesn’t really improve things.
Withiel, T. D., Wong, D., Ponsford, J. L., Cadilhac, D. A., & Stolwyk, R. J. (2020). Feasibility and effectiveness of computerised cognitive training for memory dysfunction following stroke: A series of single case studies. Neuropsychological rehabilitation, 30(5), 829-852.
(currently at tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09602011.2018.1503083) [No clear benefit of Lumosity in several case studies; high variability.]
Ruiz-Marquez, E., Prieto, A., Mayas, J., Toril, P., Reales, J. M., & Ballesteros, S. (2019). Effects of nonaction videogames on attention and memory in young adults. Games for health journal, 8(6), 414-422.
(currently at researchgate.net/profile/Soledad-Ballesteros/publication/334717472_Effects_of_Nonaction_Videogames_on_Attention_and_Memory_in_Young_Adults/links/5ddd61a5299bf10bc3294eb6/Effects-of-Nonaction-Videogames-on-Attention-and-Memory-in-Young-Adults.pdf) [Finding no difference between Lumosity and a normal video game in improved memory and attention - actually didn’t have a real control, so who knows what led to the improvement]
Lassonde, K. A., & Osborn, R. M. (2019). Lumosity does not best classroom memory improvement strategies. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 5(1), 1. (paywall at psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-62909-001) [Finding no additional improvement from using Lumosity, at least as far as I can tell from the abstract; it’s behind a paywall.]
