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Can 'brain games' really help you improve the way your brain functions?
You've probably seen ads for apps promising to make you smarter in just a few minutes a day. Hundreds of so-called "brain training" programs can be purchased for download. These simple games are designed to challenge mental abilities, with the ultimate goal of improving the performance of important everyday tasks.
But can just clicking away at animations of swimming fish or flashed streets signs on your phone really help you improve the way your brain functions?
Two large groups of scientists and mental health practitioners published consensus statements, months apart in 2014, on the effectiveness of these kinds of brain games. Both included people with years of research experience and expertise in cognition, learning, skill acquisition, neuroscience and dementia. Both groups carefully considered the same body of evidence available at the time.
Yet, they issued exactly opposite statements.
One concluded that "there is little evidence that playing brain games improves underlying broad cognitive abilities, or that it enables one to better navigate a complex realm of everyday life."
The other argued that "a substantial and growing body of evidence shows that certain cognitive training regimens can significantly improve cognitive function, including in ways that generalize to everyday life."
[...]The most important lesson from the literature on training is this: If you want to improve your performance on a task that's important to you, practice that task. Playing brain games may only make you better at playing brain games.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @10:36AM
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When they drop that bomb
Crawl out through the fallout
With the greatest of aplomb
When your rad count's getting higher
Hurry, don't delay
I'll hold you close and kiss those
Radiation burns away
Crawl out through the fallout, baby
To my loving arms
Through the rain of Strontium-90
Think about your hero
When you're at Ground Zero
And crawl out through the fallout back to me
Crawl out through the fallout, baby
You know what I mean
Crawl out through the fallout
'Cause they said this bomb was clean
If you cannot find the way
Just listen for my song
I'll love you all your life
Although that may not be too long
Crawl out through the fallout, baby
To my loving arms
While those ICBM's keep us free
When you hear me call out
Baby, kick the wall out
And crawl out through the fallout back to me
'Cause you'll be the only girl in the world
Why don't you crawl out through the fallout back to me
Why don't you crawl out through the fallout back to me