Training the brain: fact and fad in cognitive and behavioral remediation.
Abstract
Putatively safe and effective for improving cognitive performance in both health and disease, products purported to train the brain appeal to consumers and healthcare practitioners. In an increasingly health-centered society, these applications constitute a burgeoning commercial market. Sparse evidence coupled with lack of scientific rigor, however, leaves claims concerning the impact and duration of such brain training largely unsubstantiated. On the other hand, at least some scientific findings seem to support the effectiveness and sustainability of training for higher brain functions such as attention and working memory. In the present paper we provide a tectonic integration and synthesis of cognitive training approaches. Specifically, we sketch the relative merits and shortcomings of these programs, which often appeal to parents who must choose between side-effect-laden medication and other less conventional options. Here we examine how neuroplasticity allows the healthy as well the impaired to benefit from cognitive training programs. We evaluate the evidence and consider whether brain training can be a stand-alone treatment or an adjunct to pharmacotherapy, outline promising future prospects, and highlight what training outcomes are plausible in line with available data. Future research would determine whether the field of brain training realizes its potential to revolutionize education and rehabilitation or withers away engulfed in controversy.
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The majority of studies have found that while task performance improves, there is little evidence that training effects generalize to real-world function or improve clinical symptoms.
“In general, the majority of studies have found that while task performance improves, there is little evidence that training effects generalize to real-world function or improve clinical symptoms (e.g., for review see Rabipour and Raz, 2012).”
From Advancing understanding of executive function impairments and psychopathology: bridging the gap between clinical and cognitive approaches (2015) · cites this paper as Rabipour and Raz, 2012
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- Authors
- Rabipour, S., & Raz, A.
- Affiliations
- McGill University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Raz, Amir
- Venue
- Brain and Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-07
- Volume
- 79
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 159-179
- ISSN
- 0278-2626 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2120670062
- Cited by
- 267
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 41.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Brain and Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience, Education and Cognitive Function
- Keywords
- brain training, cognitive training, neuroplasticity, working memory, attention, cognitive remediation, pharmacotherapy, evidence base, rehabilitation
- MeSH terms
- Stroke Rehabilitation, Adult, Aged, Attention, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Behavior Therapy, Mental Disorders, Child, Cognition Disorders, Computer-Assisted Instruction, Humans, Memory, Short-Term, Neuronal Plasticity, Psychotherapy, Remedial Teaching, Transfer, Psychology, Executive Function, Neurofeedback
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