Do "Brain-Training" Programs Work?
Daniel Simons and six co-authors reviewed the peer-reviewed intervention studies cited on the websites of leading brain training companies, presumably the strongest evidence those companies had. They found extensive evidence of improvement on the trained tasks, less on closely related tasks, and little on distantly related tasks or everyday cognition. Many studies had major flaws in design or analysis, and none met all the best practices the authors identified as essential for showing benefits for everyday activities.
Daniel Simons and six co-authors reviewed the peer-reviewed intervention studies cited on the websites of leading brain training companies, presumably the strongest evidence those companies had. They found extensive evidence of improvement on the trained tasks, less on closely related tasks, and little on distantly related tasks or everyday cognition. Many studies had major flaws in design or analysis, and none met all the best practices the authors identified as essential for showing benefits for everyday activities.
Written from the abstract on the Association for Psychological Science journal page, read 2026-10-23.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
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. doi:10.1177/1529100616661983