This story was originally published in our Jul/Aug 2023 issue as "Mind Games." Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.
I’m slouching over my desk, smartphone in hand, furiously tapping at the screen. In a game that looks straight out of a 1980s Atari console, I’m trying to direct little multicolored trains to stations of the same color by selecting the tracks as fast as I can. This task is supposed to assess my attention skills. I don’t do well. Luckily for me, the app promises I can improve with training, for as little as $11.99 per month.
I’m not the only one tempted to level up my mental fitness and keep my brain healthy with just a bit of screen time. In recent years, the idea that online games can boost cognitive flexibility has gained widespread appeal, giving rise to a huge brain training industry worth upwards of $6 billion. (It’s projected to grow to $44 billion by 2030, according to a 2022 market research report by InsightAce Analytic.) These days, new apps pop up faster than zombies in shooter games, promising to improve your problem-solving capabilities, memory and processing speed — essentially making you smarter, sharper and more mentally agile. All you have to do is carve out a few minutes each day to solve simple puzzles and memory games, like matching cards, arranging the tiles of a mosaic or solving math equations.
At least, that’s the idea. Many developers of brain-training apps say that their products are firmly rooted in science. BrainHQ, for example, offers 29 online exercises “built on serious science” and asserts that its cognitive benefits are proven in at least 100 published studies. Another app, HAPPYneuron, states it’s “a part of therapy for a variety of medical conditions,” listing a wide range of issues, from healthy aging and Alzheimer’s disease to stroke and multiple sclerosis — even distinct psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. Since its launch in 2007, more than 100 million people worldwide have used Lumosity, which claims to offer “statistically significant improvements” for a host of cognitive assessments. And many people find those claims compelling; a survey of over 3,000 Americans found that a majority believe brain-training apps help them with thinking, attention and memory, according to a paper published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience in 2016.
