One of the controversies surrounding brain training sites has been the creators' claims that they build fluid intelligence.
Critics argue that they don't build transferable brain capacity, but simply teach users how to play better brain games. In a study in the journal Intelligence, researchers observed 35 players' eye movements while taking reasoning test Raven's Progressive Matrices. The researchers argue that players improved scores simply by acquiring skills and refining strategies. In other words, they weren't growing broadly smarter.
After playing Lumosity for about a year, I think that's probably about right. But researchers shouldn't underestimate the value of skill and strategy acquisition as a transferable asset. Here's what I learned from Lumosity:
• You can recover after a series of mistakes. After a bad run in a game, it's easy to get rattled. Players can learn to stop, reset, and continue on. This is transferable to successfully picking yourself back up after fudging a work presentation.
• Make use of the stuff you aren't aware you know. Plenty of times in a Lumosity memory game, players supply split-second solutions that turn out to be the right ones. The games teach players to trust themselves, trust their instincts.
• It's hard to improve the last few percentage points. Big gains are easy to get in mediocre scores, but become a huge fight above 90 percent. If you feel like you are making small gains in other areas of life (i.e., on your skateboard), it might mean you are near the top of your game.
• The best game strategies are usually counterintuitive. Most Lumosity games get easier once players stop trying to beat them straight on. There's usually a odd strategy you develop on your own that turns out to vastly improve your score. For instance in Pet Detective (above), it looks like one smooth route is the way to win, but it's best to jab back and fourth in a jagged track. Onlookers wouldn't possibly believe you were taking the most efficient route, but there it is. Just like life.
Correction: An earlier version of this post reported that an eye tracking study used Lumosity. Raven's Progressive Matrices was used.
