Brain games have been in the news again. But there’s really nothing new about the news.
First, brain training involving no physical activity will never do as much good for us as we would like it to. Our brains function best when solving problems while moving (as they have for most of human history.)
Next, the notion of being able to sit still and play a brain game has irresistible appeal AND brain game platforms are something that can be monetized and sold so this is where too much focus goes.
Extensive research has shown that computer brain training mostly results in specific task improvements directly or closely related to the training task. Meaning, there’s very little carry-over to things that aren’t the game – the things that matter to us in real life.
New research shows that processing speed is the only domain of cognition that shows meaningful benefit:
- McGill Univ Study (2025): 30-minutes of brain training daily for 10 weeks, processing speed was the only improvement.
- ACTIVE study participants, 20-year follow-up, processing speed training lowered Alzheimer’s and related dementias risk by 25%.
But…benefits limited to processing speed, not other domains of cognition. Importantly, the biggest gains occur in people who have the most room for improvement (i.e., the more cognitive decline you have, the more processing speed benefit you get.) If you’re not comprised, you get no benefit.
A Lancet review of multiple RCTs found that multi-domain lifestyle interventions, particularly exercise, have greater cognitive benefits. It examined lifestyle interventions targeting diet, physical exercise, cognitive training, social activity, and health education, either alone or in combination. The takeaway: the combination of physical exercise and cognitive training demonstrated the strongest effect.
We must stop acting surprised at results like this. For all but the last century or so of human history, we needed to produce complex movements on unpredictable terrain in uncertain and sometimes life-threatening terrain to survive a single day. The deep integration of motion and cognition is the foundation of our brain function and health.
Sitting motionless and playing a brain will NEVER replicate this. But the irresistible appeal of brain games results in a fertile market of products and services promising big brain benefits from inactive brain training. It will never come.
Combine thinking and moving. That only way to get what we want is do what got us the advanced brains we have in the first place.