Forget crossword puzzles.
New government-backed research suggests an “unconscious” brain exercise may do more to shield aging minds from dementia better than old-school memory games.
“This study gives us real, tangible insights into how we might be able to protect the brain throughout the aging process,” Todd Haim, senior advisor on biomedical innovation at NIH’s National Institute on Aging, told The Post.
The ambitious research effort began nearly three decades ago.
In 1998, scientists recruited more than 2,800 volunteers with an average age of 74, all living independently in six communities across the US.
A majority were women — who have a greater risk of developing dementia during their lifetime — and all of the volunteers were healthy and symptom-free when the study began.
The participants were then divided into four groups, each assigned a different type of brain training designed to sharpen specific cognitive abilities:
- Memory: These participants learned techniques to better remember word lists, written passages and story details.
- Reasoning: This group was taught how to spot patterns and sequences to solve problems.
- Visual speed of processing: These volunteers played a split-attention brain game on the computer designed to help them quickly identify and locate visual information, even with distractions.
- Control: This group received no training.
The training took place over five to six weeks in 1999, with participants attending 60- to 75-minute sessions twice a week.
About a year later, half of those in each training group returned for a “booster” — four extra one-hour sessions. They received another at the end of year three, bringing the total training time to 22.5 hours.
Then came the long wait.
Twenty years later, researchers assessed the impact of each regimen. They found that only the speed-training group saw a significant benefit — a 25% reduction in dementia diagnoses compared with the control group.
That protective effect was seen only among participants who completed both the initial speed training and the booster sessions.
“This study shows that simple brain training, done for just weeks, may help people stay mentally healthy for years longer,” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a press release.
“That’s a powerful idea — that practical, affordable tools could help delay dementia and help older adults keep their independence and quality of life.”
With more than 6 million Americans already living with dementia — over 100,000 deaths linked to it each year in the US — the stakes couldn’t be higher.
How you can play the speed training game yourself — and why it stands out
The winning brain game was developed by professors in Alabama and Kentucky and later sold to BrainHQ, a for-profit brain-training company. Today, it’s known as Double Decision and there’s a free trial version available online.
“If you don’t ride a bicycle for 10 years, you can get on a bicycle and ride it. We know this type of learning is very long-lasting,” study coauthor Dr. Marilyn Albert, director of the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, told CNN.
In the game, participants first identified which of two objects flashed at the center of a computer screen. The images appeared faster and faster as their performance improved.
Next, they were asked to identify the central object while also spotting similar objects in their peripheral vision — again with shrinking time limits.
Finally, the peripheral object began appearing in different positions around the screen, making each round progressively tougher.
Scientists are still trying to pinpoint exactly why this cognitive training approach delayed dementia diagnoses when the others didn’t.
One theory is that the speed-training game stood out because it automatically got harder as players improved, forcing fast, automatic thinking instead of slow, deliberate problem-solving.
The researchers also suspect speed training may work hand-in-hand with other healthy habits known to reduce cognitive decline, like exercise and a good diet.
“Our findings provide support for the development and refinement of cognitive training interventions for older adults, particularly those that target visual processing and divided attention abilities,” site principal investigator George Rebok, a lifespan developmental psychologist, said in a statement.
“It is possible that adding this cognitive training to lifestyle change interventions may delay dementia onset, but that remains to be studied.”
If future studies confirm the results, the payoff could be huge.
Experts estimate that 42% of Americans over 55 will eventually develop dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common form.
And the problem is only getting worse: By 2060, new dementia diagnoses are expected to double to 1 million a year, underscoring the need for additional prevention strategies.