Playing games with limited rules and specific goals doesn't make you any smarter when it comes to dealing with life?



You don't say!

Aww, but I was getting really good.

That woman in the commercial is creepy as all hell, it looks like her brain is broken inside

Maybe if you spent a little more time on Lumosity, subby, you'd know it was spelled "sudoko."

/yes, yes, low fruit

If Mensa actually had brains, what they'd be doing is selling endorsements to all these brain-building sites. They could say things like, "average people who use Lumosity for X months increase their statistical odds of being accepted to Mensa by an average of 12 percent" or something like that. That would be a gold mine.

Does Golden Tee count as a brain improving game?  'Cause after 4 beers I rock at that game!

Sodoku?

Seems that subby needs to play word games

oh wait
it wouldn't have been greenlit otherwise

Cognition is a crucial element in critical thinking.

All games where decisions are made help improve cognitive reasoning. The more focused those games are at providing complex cognitive reasoning, the better they are at stimulating the ability of the brain to make critical decisions.

True, modern American jobs will depend on these skills. Your manufacturing job does not.

I've never met a Dwarf Fortress gamer who was stupid or prone to making poor choices with shallow reasoning.

Suppose I do not know the games from several of the companies reviewed, thus I will not speak for them, but practicing any cognitive task over the norm will make you better in this task. If the games are poorly designed, as the majority of products cashing in on trends tend to be poorly designed, then of course you will not be practicing the cognitive task purported. In  No Evidence of Intelligence Improvement After Working Memory Training, the problem appears to be using working memory training as an effort to increase fluid intelligence scores overall; this would assure working memory is not restrictive towards fluid intelligence capacity, whereas facets such as information analysis and processing are still able to throttle.

Pretty much any game which makes you think is good for you.

That means from something as simple as crossword puzzles to the complex video games dealing with multi-player combat. While they might not make you smarter, they will increase the ability to process information and, in many instances, learn new things.

People play organized sports. Technically, the vigorous activity makes them physically healthier, makes them think on their feet, teaches them to be team players and burns off aggression. In actuality, professional sports tends to damage the body over time, making it age more quickly from accumulated damage. Boxing encourages the development of Alzheimer's from the brain being banged around in the skull -- but increases the speed and perception of the boxer.

Football players develop spatial recognition skills having to keep an eye on everyone else on the field plus the ball and tend to be able to judge the physical capabilities of an opponent in a very short time. They also accumulate a major amount of soft tissue and skeletal damage from repeated impacts, especially in the area of the joints.

Physically demanding games tend to cause the body to lay down more calcium in the bones, making them harder and strengthening muscles. When not played obsessively or stupidly (Rugby) generating too much violence, they're good for the entire physical state of the players, including the brain.

Chess and checkers encourages you to think in three dimensions. Strategy games teaches you that the most direct way might not be the best. Others develop the ability to think quickly and accurately on your feet when a large volume of information is pouring in.

Yes, you'll become a better player at the games you like, but the overall skills will blend in with your basic knowledge. The more you learn, the more connections form in your brain.

I don't play or like golf. I think it's a waste of greenspace. Yet I have to admit that it takes quite a bit of skill to determine how to hit that tiny ball with a club to make it go exactly where you want it, how to read the lay of the green and even instinctively judge the force of any breeze on the trajectory of the ball.

A lot of computer games teach you to expect the unexpected since they quite often do not follow the laws of real physics or, sometimes, even logic.

People who regularly play games of any form tend to be mentally sharper than those who basically vegetate. Numbers games teach you to add, subtract, multiply and divide faster than you probably did in school. Hidden object and adventure games teach you to look for what is hidden in plain sight or disguised.

A game does not have to be physically demanding to encourage your mental health.

Plus, games provide entertainment value for the players, which translates into pleasure and that encourages better mental health. It doesn't matter if they're group or single player.

...is now over

mooseyfate: I've been enjoying luminosity. It hasn't given me super powers or anything. Which is kind of a rip-off. Then again, I'm not using it because I want to pass an exam, I'm using it because I felt like I was getting dumber. Slower. Less logical. So now I do a few minutes of luminosity in those areas. Maybe it helps, maybe nothing's changed at all, but at least my brain is being stimulated. No complaints here.


I've been enjoying luminosity as well. I find it difficult to get anything done in the dark.

Sudoku, because crosswords are too hard.