Are there any legitimate "brain training" apps/games/etc.?

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The only thing “brain training” games train, is your ability to play their game. There are no games that make you smarter or improve your memory in everyday life. And the ones that say they do are the ones you need to stay away from.

Here's what I do on my phone most of the time nowadays:

• Practice sudoku @ sudoku.coach
• Practice chess @ Lichess
• Practice Japanese @ renshuu.org

I almost got rid of all of my doomscrolling with actual brain activity. It feels great, and having different topics to choose from helps break the monotony.

I would say reading books. It's a long form activity that is a strong counter to the brain rot of scrolling and being mindlessly entertained by 100 different things for 10 seconds each. I find that when I read I have more vivid dreams which I think is definitely a sign that my brain has been fired up.

Almost all lack generalizability to everyday life with the skills they purport to target and improve. In other words, you may get better with your, say, reaction time in the actual “game” but that doesn’t mean you’ll experience a transfer effect in your reaction speed globally in day to day life.

I'm utter shit at math, so I got one of those apps for kids from Kahoot that teaches you algebra starting with symbols instead of numbers, which was helpful until I reached the level where they started switching some of the symbols to numbers and letters, and it got way too confusing again.

All games can be brain training games, just depends on what you want to train.

Brilliant.org, app has same name. There's discount codes available.

I would say:

• Reading books
• Playing chess

Both can be done on a phone I suppose.

Your brain gets good at what it does. There’s a bit of skill transfer here and there but overall, training your brain on brain training games trains your brain to play brain training games. Practice what you want to get good at

Yes. It's called learning, and you can use just about any app to do it. Note taking apps, lecture/course apps, flash card apps, you name it.

But an app that arbitrarily claims to "improve your brain" with little addicting games? That's the opposite thing. Good luck

I started using Neuronation and am pretty happy with it so far. It has quite a bit of challenging tasks (math, quickly building words, logical thinking, memory training) you need to do. They test you one time to evaulate your skills and then the training is started at your own level. Normally you do it 10-15 min /day. They also seem to treat data privately and since the company behind is based in Germany they would have to comply to GDPR anyway which gives further protection. Got suggested to me from a friend which also has ADHD. His psychiatrist recommended it to him, so it seems to be mainly used in this context and also scientifically backed. I pay ~50€/year. Also I use it in German, but I'm sure it's also available in English

Portal & Portal 2

And if you're really feeling masochistic, Portal Reloaded

Sudoku is one that's been studied and shown, so far, to help with some cognitive issues.

Role of prefrontal cortex during Sudoku task: fNIRS study

asking this is like asking whether there is a single gym routine that works out all muscles of the body.

there isn't. because what strains your pecs is different from what strains your glutes. that's why we have different routines for different muscle groups.

the brain isn't a just a simple little box. it has multiple functions which are triggered by vastly different stimuli. relying on "brain training" apps would be akin to only doing bicep curls every day--sure, your guns will be super but the rest of your body will still remain flabby and weak forever.

Tetris. IIRC there are some very positive studies backing it. There is even something called the "Tetris Effect" (not the game).

From what I have read there isn't any legitimate brain training apps for the average person. I know there are apps out there to help with specific disorders and things like that having some positive results, but everything I have seen on brain training shows little benefit from it, and it is really just a way to make yourself feel like you are doing something from what I can tell.

That being said, as someone with a bad memory, keeping a detailed journal and writing important or interesting things down when they happen help me remember things much better. If you can say what you want to remember out loud that is even better because it is another way to solidify what you are trying to remember.

A trick my counselor taught me is to Journal before bed, read what you wrote when you are finished, and then go to sleep. This is supposed to help with long term memory of what you wrote down, and I have seen improvement doing this with my long term memory.

I see Brilliant.org advertised often in educational YouTube, so that might be a good start. Those channels often have promo codes too

I'd say Anki

I like sudoku and math problems

I don't know if Brain Age has any legitimate scientific value but it sure as heck is fun. Don't buy the switch version though, that one sucks.

You could try this game for memory. https://onlinequicktool.com/tile-recall-game/

Lichess