technology general population and clinicians provide guidance when advising patients as to what might be suitable for healthy brain ageing .
So we tried to collect levels of evidence to see which particular computerised brain training products had clinical trials that met our research criteria , and then that would provide a guidance for our general population and clinicians .
What were some of the claims made by the companies behind these programs ? Some companies [ claimed their product was ] very good in promoting higher cognitive brain functions such as memory , problem solving , concentration , language , attention and other higher executive functions . We narrowed down from [ an initial ] 18 programs to seven , because we found that 11 were not backed by enough scientific clinical trials as part of our search methodology .
Most of them [ based their ] assessment criteria on memory testing , so they did some memory testing before and after the intervention and that ’ s how [ they ] measured whether the products were effective or not .
A mug ’ s game ?
Brain training apps are becoming increasingly popular among older Australians , but is there any evidence they work ?
Tejal Shah interviewed by Dallas Bastian
Researchers from Edith Cowan University have examined the scientific claims made by 18 companies that produce brain training programs . They found 11 had no clinical trials or empirical evidence to indicate their programs were effective .
Still , lead researcher professor Ralph Martins from the School of Medical and Health Sciences says current evidence indicates that at least some of the commercially available brain training programs can assist in promoting healthy brain ageing .
Two in particular , BrainHQ and CogniFit , were found to have at least two well-designed randomised controlled trials demonstrating their effectiveness .
Study co-author Dr Tejal Shah says some of the other programs explored in the study may also be effective but the evidence is not there yet .
Aged Care Insite sits down with Shah to find out what claims companies made about their products and how health professionals should advise people interested in brain training .
ACI : Why did your research team feel it was important to examine the evidence behind these sorts of programs ? TS : There ’ s ongoing debate as to whether brain training is good for memory and high brain function . There ’ s a lot of research papers out there which actually investigate this . [ Our work aims to ] help the
The team broke the remaining seven companies down into three categories . How were they sorted ? We came across 26 peer-reviewed studies examining the effectiveness of these seven brain training programs for people aged over 50 years . We classified the products based on the clinical evidence ; that is , by including the quality and the quantity of the clinical studies .
To be classified as Level 1 , a program was required to have at least two well-designed randomised controlled trials , one of which had to be of high quality . Level 2 required only one high quality randomised controlled trial , while Level 3 required only one moderate or poorly designed randomised controlled trial .
Two brain training programs met the criteria for Level 1 : BrainHQ and CogniFit . What did the research reveal about the effectiveness of these two programs ? The studies which used BrainHQ and CogniFit generally showed that they were good at improving cognitive domains such as memory , reasoning [ and ] processing speed , and they were mostly designed on the principle of the brain ’ s ability to rewire or reconnect , what we call neuroplasticity . The exercises were either audio or visually interactive and adaptable as per the person ’ s own level of performance .
What should health professionals take away from the findings that might be useful when advising patients interested in brain training ? Our research can provide a guideline as to which program could be recommended for people who are concerned about their brain functions in older age . Another suggestion would be that if someone is thinking for rehabilitation purpose or for school children or for a particular neurological disorder it would be a good idea to just go and visit each program ’ s website and look at their scientific research data .
Most of these products only provide supportive evidence . That means they either only mention that programs are based on the neuroplasticity principle [ or ] just quote some other studies [ of ] other programs . Very few provide an actual list of their own studies . It would also be good to see if those studies properly met the gold standard of clinical trials … so professionals could advise their participants to go online and take a look at those particular lists of studies [ to see ] if they have particularly done research in their area of interests . ■
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