Does “Brain-Training” Work?
The short answer is it depends. It depends on how you are training and what you are expecting to learn. The scientific debate is covered in a recent Psychological Science in the Public Interest article.
The authors of that paper conclude there is extensive evidence that brain-training improves performance on the trained tasks, less evidence that they improve performance on closely related tasks, and little evidence that training improves everyday cognitive performance.
In education we call the ability of new skills to be applied in new situations “transfer.” For example, if you learn to add using cereal pieces but you can’t add when you don’t have cereal to count, then you aren’t transferring your knowledge. If learning doesn’t transfer it usually isn’t very helpful in real life.
The bad news is that a lot of lessons show poor transfer. And this isn’t just a problem for brain-training games or technology. This is a problem for all kinds of lessons. The good news is that we have learned some things that can help promote transfer.
One problem with most "brain-training" games is that they are often very simple, repetitive, and divorced from everyday context. Expecting to improve a variety of real-world skills from these kinds of activities would not be that different from expecting to be better at all kinds of math after doggedly memorizing times tables from flash cards. While there can be a place for intensive training on a focused skill, we know that embedding lessons in real-world examples helps learners use skills in new and different situations. We know that varying how information is presented and weaving it into a story can help learners build knowledge that they can apply more broadly. That’s why, as we’ve developed SmartyPal’s technology, we have kept a focus on allowing our interactive elements and games to be embedded in rich narratives. Our games allow skills to be practiced in problem-solving contexts that make it easier to see how to apply those skills in other situations.
Have a happy Monday!
Dr. Brian
SmartyPal Director of Learning Sciences