Online brain training can improve memory and reasoning in older people

Playing online ‘brain training’ games that challenge memory skills and reasoning could have significant benefits for older people during their day to day lives, reports a new study by Kings College London, published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA).

Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at Kings College London, found that an online brain training package could improve memory and reasoning skills. They also found it could help older people to carry out everyday tasks, including: navigating public transport, shopping, cooking and managing personal finances.

The brain training package contained three reasoning tasks, which included balancing weights on a see-saw and three problem-solving tasks, such as putting numbered tiles in numerical order.

Commenting on the study, Dr Anne Corbett from the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London, said: “The impact of a brain training package such as this one could be extremely significant for older adults who are looking for a way to proactively maintain their cognitive health as they age. The online package could be accessible to large numbers of people, which could also have considerable benefits for public health across the UK.

“Our research adds to growing evidence that lifestyle interventions may provide a more realistic opportunity to maintain cognitive function, and potentially reduce the risk of cognitive decline later in life, particularly in the absence of any drug treatments to prevent dementia.”

The trial involved nearly 7,000 adults aged over 50 and is the first to evaluate the impact computerised brain training has on how well people can perform everyday activities.

The study participants were initially recruited from the general population, through a partnership with the BBC, Alzheimer’s Society and the Medical Research Council.

'Lifestyle interventions may provide an opportunity to maintain cognitive function'

Participants were encouraged to play the game for ten minutes at a time, as often as they felt like, before starting the study and again after six weeks, three months and six months.

During the study, participants completed a number of cognitive tests, to measure grammatical reasoning and memory. Participants over the age of 60 were also assessed on a test of daily living, such as: using the telephone, doing their shopping and navigating public transport.

In the past, research has shown the benefits that brain training can bring in improving memory, although these studies have been inconclusive.

The new research is funded by Alzheimer’s Society and is the largest randomised trial of an online brain training package to date.

The study found that after six months of brain training, participants over 60 saw significant improvements in their scores on the test of daily living. In addition, improvements were observed in reasoning and verbal learning in those over 50, compared to people who didn’t play the problem-solving or reasoning games.

Overall, playing brain training games five times a week was found to be the most effective way of bringing about improvements to reasoning and memory.

Severe cognitive impairments could be a precursor to dementia

Commenting on the results of the study, director of research and development at Alzheimer’s Society, Dr Doug Brown, said: “Online brain training is rapidly growing into a multi-million pound industry and studies like this are vital to help us understand what these games can and cannot do. While this study wasn’t long enough to test whether the brain training package can prevent cognitive decline or dementia, we’re excited to see that it can have a positive impact on how well older people perform essential everyday tasks.

“With a rapidly ageing population, evidence that this type of brain training has a tangible, real-life benefit on cognitive function is truly significant. As government and society explore ways to enable people to live independently as they get older, this study has important implications for policy makers and public health professionals.

“Finding ways to help people maintain good brain health and avoid dementia is a key focus for the Society’s research programme and we’re delighted to be funding the next stage of this research. We need as many people over 50 to sign up to help us test the effect of brain training over a longer time period.”

Despite some decline in memory and thinking skills being a normal part of ageing, severe impairments could be a precursor to dementia, which could see the progressive loss of ability and function.

Past research has indicated that people with complex occupations or those who engage in cognitively stimulating activities, such as crosswords, puzzles or learning new skills throughout life, tend to have lower rates of dementia.

The study could have implications for preserving the cognitive ability of older adults and could offer an accessible option to help people reduce their risk of cognitive decline in later life.

Dr Corbett added: “Today we’re launching a new open trial to see how well older people engage with the brain training package over the long-term. We want to investigate how genetics might affect performance to allow us to better understand how brain training could be used to maintain cognition or even reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.”

People aged over 50 and living in the UK are encouraged to take part in the brain training study, for more information, visit: http://www.protectstudy.org.uk/

To play the online brain training game, visit: www.alzheimers.org.uk/braintraining