Lacey Ryffel: a senior in nutrition/dietetics, exercises her brain by playing Sudoku. This popular mind game is said to strengthen thinking skills and sharpness.Brain exercise is all fun and games, thanks to the new Brain Age software for Nintendo DS.
In a time when people are ever increasing their dependence on technology, the Brain Age software wakes up those lazy brain cells for a workout.
Clayton Thornton, a freshman in biomedical sciences, said he thinks Brain Age is a growing trend among students because people are curious to see how, and if it works. And for the price of $20, he said it’s worth it.
“I don’t think it raises your intellect any, but it definitely will sharpen you,” Thornton said. “It’ll keep you on your toes.”
Games include Sudoku, crossword puzzles and memory, math and Spanish games.
The system gets personal information from you to assess your “brain age.” The faster you go through a set of questions, the higher your brain age, or intellectual age.
Each time you play a game, the system takes a log of your results, and your score is calculated for that particular game.
When you play the game again, it compares the most current score with the score you got the last time and graphs your progress. The goal is to increase your score on that same game.
“It would be nice to get your day started that way, like just before class, because it will warm up your brain and get you working,” Thornton said. “That way you’re not so drowsy. I probably should play mine before chemistry class.”
Playing the games could help you do better in classes. But don’t get too carried away – it helps in terms of sustaining mental activity, not necessarily improving it.
Dr. Ana M. Franco-Watkins, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, said there has been nothing proven that shows playing games actually makes you more intelligent in the long run.
Nevertheless, it does help with cognitive flexibility and mental activity.
“The key is that it has to be challenging,” Franco-Watkins said. “If you are doing the same thing over and over again, and it’s repetitive, you can get faster at it, but it’s no longer challenging enough to see mental activities benefits.”
Cognitive flexibility is the brain’s ability to face new conditions and adapt.
Brain Age engages the mind in a way that lays a foundation for future similar mental activity.
Once the repertoire is established, it can be accessed in memory much quicker.
“If you’re playing a certain game and you remember where you went wrong last time and you play it again, that’s where the brain age is increasing,” said Camille Leggett, first year Ph.D. student in the human center computing lab. “When you’ve mastered that particular area, then those techniques are helping you out, as well.”
While they may not increase intelligence, the games do benefit the brain in memory usage and recall.
“Anything you do frequently is going to make it easy for you to remember things,” said Shalonda Brooks, a fourth year psychology graduate student. “When we see or learn something, our brain makes connections so that we can bring it up easier later. The more you use those paths, the quicker you can get to them.”
