Susan Greenfield, one of the U.K.'s most prominent neuroscientists, has just launched a brain-training computer program called MindFit.
The software was developed by a company called MindWeavers, for which Greenfield, and David Moore, the director of the MRC Institute for Hearing Research, are scientific officers.
In this BBC news story, Greenfield is quoted as saying that "There is now good scientific evidence to show that exercising the brain can slow, delay and protect against age-related decline."
That may be the case, but why spend good money on computer games when free Soduko probably works just as well?
Sudoku puzzles courtesy of Sudoku Shack
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Where is the "good scientific evidence?" I tried a lit search but didn't come up with what I wanted. I'm looking for the paper that says that solving sudoku (or other brain training games) is neuroprotective, or enhances cognition.
I'm still unsure about the whole brain training thing. I've looked for hard evidence that it does actually do what Greenfield says it does, but it seems pretty thin on the ground.
I suspect what Greenfield was thinking can be summed up in two words: Ka. Ching.
I suspect you're right.
I'm not from the UK, so I am curious, is Greenfield's prominence due to her actual work or her self-promotion in the media. This Times article suggests the later:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2327835.ece
"The baronesss decision to lend her name to MindFit and to take a significant stake in Mind-Weavers, the company promoting it, could raise eyebrows among fellow scientists. Her high profile in the media has rankled with some and she was twice snubbed by the Royal Society."
expensive stuff especially when you see how easy it is to program such games..
I wonder what were the sophisticated games used to compare with the mindfit ones in the experiment in Israel.