While I doubt that most of the free games or training programs have the same impact as better-designed programs such as Dakim, Lumosity, CogniFit, or Posit, I think that it is likely that trying something new is good for your brain.

Some of you may have heard about the studies on Internet searching done by Dr. Gary Small and his colleagues. They have shown that Internet searching activates key brain centers that may be helpful in keeping your brain healthy. You can read more in an LA Times article here.

Maybe one of the keys is novelty. Doing something, almost anything, that is new may ask your brain to make new connections. Although the science is speculative, when you look at the direction that research is going it looks as though doing new things that make your mind process information in new ways may be essential in improving brain fitness.

In a recent post on this site, I talked about  reducing anxiety by not catastrophizing. Gary Dashney at www.onlinebraingamesblog.com made a comment, and that led me to look at his site. He has collected an impressive list of games, and wrote an excellent post on his thoughts on the characteristics of good brain games. You can find the article on his blog here. The site also has an extensive list of free brain games online here. Even if you don’t use all (or any) of them regularly, if you look through Gary’s list you can become more familiar with what’s on the Internet.

Unlike most other programs, the Dakim System isn’t a software package that you have to install on your own computer. It arrives in a box, complete with a computer that’s already set up with the program. All you have to do is open up the box and plug in the computer.

And the computer that comes with the system is the most user-friendly machine I’ve ever seen. The initial set up is explained to you by the computer over speakers that are built in to the unit. And you don’t have to use a keyboard or a mouse to use the system. You just touch the screen to answer questions as the computer is set up. That’s also how you interact with the computer when you start the training program.

The training program includes a nice variety of tasks that tap attention, memory, and problem solving. The tasks use materials that are likely to be familiar to users over 50, such as movie clips from old films, and change quickly enough to keep you from getting bored. The unit can be connected to the Internet to get updated materials, so you will be able to use the System for a long time to come. The new material requires that you pay a monthly subscription, though, so that’s an extra cost of the system.

The program has multiple levels of difficulty, so you will be able to make steady progress as you work with it. The program is just right for many users over 50, but doesn’t include tasks that focus on working memory (remembering more than one thing at a time and then thinking about them) and it’s not clear to me how well it will help you develop processing speed (how fast you can take things in and make decisions about them).  Other programs include these tasks, but in our experience they may be too difficult for many users. The Dakim System is likely to be accessible to almost every user.

Overall, then, the Dakim BrainFitness System is probably best suited for people who don’t already have a computer and don’t already know how to use a mouse and keyboard. The touch screen format makes the unit very easy to set up and use. The program content will give users a regular mental work out that will help them keep their brains working. I give the Dakim BrainFitness System an A+ for usability. The program content will help users keep the minds active, and will help you track your progress.

Update at 2:15 PM:The folks at Dakim point out to me that several of the subtests do, in fact, help train working memory. I stand corrected.  They also let me know that they’re working on a speed of processing task for inclusion in a future update.

For those of you not familiar with Posit’s programs, they are based on key ideas developed by the company’s president Dr. Michael Merzenich. He has argued that it’s possible to change the functioning of the brain through targeted computer training, and the software focuses on key abilities such as the ability to detect rapidly-changing sounds and following lengthy sets of directions. Users of the software are encouraged to use it for about one hour a day, five days a week, for eight weeks.

One of the best things about this study is the control group used by the investigators. People in the control group (the one compared) were asked to do cognitive stimulation activities that are similar to those many people believe might be helpful — viewing an educational video and answering questions about it.

The IMPACT study showed that people who completed the computer-based training did better on outcome measures than the people in the control group. These outcome measures were neuropsychological measures in a battery given to participants both before and after they either used the program or were in the control group.

Statistical analyses showed that people who used the computer program scored better on these measures than the people in the control group. The authors conclude that the program may be helpful.

The differences between the groups were statistically significant, and that’s important for all of us to know. But it’s also important to look at how big the effect of using the program was. One measure, the Auditory Verbal Learning Test or AVLT, showed a significant difference. The AVLT asks someone to remember a list of 15 words. In this study, the people who used the computer program remembered, on average, about six tenths of a word more after using it.

This doesn’t mean the program isn’t useful. This amount of improvement is similar to that seen with some prescription medications used for Alzheimer’s disease, for example, and some people may have done much better than the average. It also doesn’t tell us how much change would occur for people who use the program over longer periods, too. But it seems to me that most people would want a clear idea of how well the program works before investing in it.