Recently, a new form of brain training game made headlines for its surprising ability to increase fluid intelligence in a way no one had ever seen before. Improving one's problem-solving abilities is the goal of this mental workout.
All of the scientists who worked on the game agreed that it could be a great asset to classroom instruction since it opened the door to better general intelligence.
Novelty
Aside from enhancing working memory, the new computer-based brain training method also raised results on "fluid intelligence" tests, which measure general problem-solving abilities.
It came as a surprise to the other psychologists and scientists that, in reality, the only method to improve fluid intelligence is to practice the examinations themselves.
But this time, the research of Drs. Jaeggi and Buschkuhl, along with others, disproved this long-established belief.
With just a little bit of practice, their brain training strategy improved fluid intelligence ratings. Dr. Jaeggi has defined the capacity to enhance fluid intelligence as "the ability to reason and to flexibly adapt to new situations."
The match
For their memory improvement study, Dr. Jaeggi and colleagues assigned 35 volunteers to the intervention group and 35 to the control group. At regular intervals of three seconds, the participants watched as a series of squares appeared on the screen.
Finding out if the square we were seeing at right now was at the same spot in the sequence as the one somewhere else was the objective. The one from two or more positions ago, was it the same?
Simultaneously, participants listened to spoken letters and completed an identical task to the visual version, with the exception that it was presented in audio format. In reality, there are two separate modality streams operating in tandem throughout the procedure.
The exercises were designed to be more challenging as individuals demonstrated proficiency. After a poor performance, the task is made easy. To put it another way, the task was always tailored to the participants' individual processing capacities.
The results
Following the comprehensive testing (done on four groups, etc.), the trained individuals shown a considerable improvement: their problem-solving abilities increased from nine to twelve.
A remarkable and substantial 40% improvement was observed in the number of issues that participants were able to solve in the post-test as their training progressed.
This unexpected
Transfer effects play a key role in educational systems. The underlying premise is that we will put our academic knowledge to use at some point in the future.
Tangible transfer was observed in the research test, with the effect being more noticeable on tests administered to children. I found the transfer to be the most fascinating aspect of the investigation.
Mental exercise riddles
These days, you may find cognitive teasers in a lot of newspapers. Also, newer generations of gaming consoles and video games, like the Nintendo DS, are available in the hopes that they might stimulate the minds of the elderly.
Many of these will definitely enhance memory, and there are now ways to do puzzles like Sudoku quickly. Some, like the time-honored crossword, actually help you learn new words.
Some memory-enhancing software exercises have also been found to be helpful for the elderly.
Brain training is rapidly approaching its goal of making significant progress in the fight against long-standing brain diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia.