Do brain games raise your IQ?

In 2008, a widely publicised study reported that training on a dual n-back task improved fluid intelligence ^[1].

Later meta-analyses that pooled many trials found that working-memory training reliably improves the trained task and similar tasks, but found no convincing improvement in intelligence or other untrained abilities ^[2][3].

A major review of brain-training programs reached the same conclusion: practice makes you better at what you practise; evidence for broader everyday benefits is weak ^[4].

What this means at LaserMind: we show your progress on the exercise you train, we check transfer with untrained tasks, and we never convert scores into IQ or brain age.

References

1. Jaeggi, S. M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., & Perrig, W. J. (2008). Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. PNAS, 105(19), 6829–6833. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0801268105
2. Melby-Lervåg, M., & Hulme, C. (2013). Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review. Developmental Psychology, 49(2), 270–291. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028228
3. Sala, G., & Gobet, F. (2019). Cognitive training does not enhance general cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 23(1), 9–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.10.004
4. Simons, D. J., Boot, W. R., Charness, N., Gathercole, S. E., Chabris, C. F., Hambrick, D. Z., & Stine-Morrow, E. A. L. (2016). Do "brain-training" programs work? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(3), 103–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100616661983