![]() ![]() Commercial brain training programs claim to improve a broad range of mental processes however, evidence for transfer beyond trained tasks is mixed. ![]() Activity in these regions may be enhanced through adaptive cognitive training. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Engagement of neural regions and circuits important in executive cognitive function can bias behavioral choices away from immediate rewards. Commercial adaptive cognitive training appears to have no benefits in healthy young adults above those of standard video games for measures of brain activity, choice behavior, or cognitive performance. Moreover, the degree of improvement was comparable to that observed in individuals who were reassessed without any training whatsoever. Participants in the commercial training condition improved with practice on the specific tasks they performed during training, but participants in both conditions showed similar improvement on standardized cognitive measures over time. ![]() Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no evidence that cognitive training influences neural activity during decision-making nor did we find effects of cognitive training on measures of delay discounting or risk sensitivity. Pretraining and post-training, participants completed cognitive assessments and functional magnetic resonance imaging during performance of the following validated decision-making tasks: delay discounting (choices between smaller rewards now vs larger rewards in the future) and risk sensitivity (choices between larger riskier rewards vs smaller certain rewards). In this randomized controlled trial, 128 young adults (71 male, 57 female) participated in 10 weeks of training with either a commercial web-based cognitive training program or web-based video games that do not specifically target executive function or adapt the level of difficulty throughout training. Motivated by evidence that enhanced cognitive control can shift choice behavior away from immediate and risky rewards, we tested whether training executive cognitive function could influence choice behavior and brain responses. And if only ten percent of those visitors convert into paying members, that is still a tidy and growing business.Increased preference for immediate over delayed rewards and for risky over certain rewards has been associated with unhealthy behavioral choices. Traffic to the site, while small at 330,000 unique visitors worldwide in April (comScore), is picking up. And if they can have fun trying, so much the better. We’ve been doing a ton in gaming, and have looked at a lot of casual games plays, but this is one of the few with a solid business model out of the gate, a unique value proposition, and has been growing very nicely.Īs Boomers get older, he thinks they are going to do anything they can to stave off the inevitable. The company is announcing today that Pequot Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and earlier angel investors, including Michael Dearing, are putting $3 million into the startup. Members pay $10 a month, with a free, 7-day trial. Others include a maze memory game and a symbol-matching one. One requires you to locate a bird that appears on the screen for a split second, while at the same time identifying a letter that flashes elsewhere on the screen. I’ve tried the games, and they are rather satisfying. Lumosity lets members play games designed to improve their memory, processing speed, and attention. (The chart is based on the brain performance index scores of 40,000 Lumosity users). But as the chart below shows, it is all downhill after 30. Online brain fitness games like Lumosity sell the promise of stopping that decline. As you age your brain slows down, your memory goes, and your attention lapses.
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