Brain Training & Aging
What the research actually shows
Whether brain training can slow age-related cognitive decline is one of the most studied (and debated) topics in cognitive science. The largest trial to date, the ACTIVE study, followed over 2,800 adults for 10 years and found that targeted cognitive training produced lasting improvements in the specific abilities trained, with speed-of-processing training showing the strongest effects.
The honest summary of the field: training transfers reliably to the abilities being trained, transfers somewhat to closely related abilities, and transfers weakly to unrelated abilities. Stay realistic: a fast-processing puzzle won't make you better at remembering names. But targeted training on a specific cognitive skill, done consistently, can produce real and durable improvements at any age.
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Brain Training & Aging