Do Brain Training Games Really Work? The Honest Answer
You paid for the app. You played the games — matching shapes, remembering sequences, catching words — a few minutes every day. Your score went up. You got faster. And then, one day, you walked into a room and couldn’t remember why, and you thought: I thought these games were supposed to fix this.
If that sounds familiar, you are not alone, and this article is not here to make you feel foolish. Millions of people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s have spent real money on brain-training apps and games. The marketing was convincing — and sometimes misleading enough to draw government attention. Here is the honest, evidence-based answer.
The short answer
Brain training games do improve one thing: your ability to play brain training games. Practice makes you faster and more skilled at the specific tasks you repeat. What the evidence does not support is the bigger promise — that getting good at these games makes you sharper at everyday thinking: remembering names, making decisions, following conversations, or driving safely.
Researchers call this the “transfer” problem. Study after study has found that improvements mostly stay inside the game: you become a champion at the memory-matrix exercise and only modestly — if at all — better at real-world memory.
That said, the story is not entirely negative. One major, long-running study — the ACTIVE study — found some genuinely encouraging results. Let us look at what it actually showed.
The ACTIVE study: the best evidence we have
The Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) study is the gold standard in this field: a large, NIH-funded randomized trial that enrolled 2,802 adults aged 65 to 94 back in 1998–99. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: memory training, reasoning training, speed-of-processing training, or a control group that received no training. Each training group got up to ten sessions of 60–75 minutes over five to six weeks, and some participants also received booster sessions about one and three years later.
At the ten-year mark, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) reports that participants who had training in reasoning and speed of processing showed less decline in those abilities than participants in the memory and control groups.
Even more striking: a 20-year follow-up of ACTIVE, published in 2026, found that adults who completed the speed-of-processing training plus the booster sessions were about 25 percent less likely to receive a dementia diagnosis over two decades than the control group — 40 percent of the trained group versus 49 percent of controls. Memory and reasoning training did not show the same long-term protection. It is the first randomized trial of its kind to link cognitive training to lower dementia incidence over 20 years.
So does this mean brain games work after all? Here is the crucial nuance — and it comes straight from the NIA. The Institute explicitly warns: “There currently is not enough evidence available to suggest that commercially available computer-based brain-training applications have the same impact on cognitive abilities as the ACTIVE study training.”
The ACTIVE training was structured, lab-delivered, targeted specific skills like processing speed, and included booster sessions years later. The app you downloaded for a few dollars a month is not the ACTIVE program. The science supporting the study is real; the leap from the study to the product is where the marketing went too far.
The Lumosity story: why the claims were challenged
The most famous name in brain games is Lumosity, made by Lumos Labs. Its ads — on TV, radio, and the internet — suggested that playing the games for 10 to 15 minutes, three or four times a week, could help users achieve their “full potential in every aspect of life.” The company claimed its games could improve performance at work and in school, and could stave off age-related cognitive decline — even dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Some ads suggested the games could also help cognitive problems linked to conditions including PTSD, ADHD, stroke, and traumatic brain injury.
In January 2016, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission settled deceptive-advertising charges against Lumos Labs for $2 million. The FTC said the company had deceived consumers with unfounded claims and, in the words of the FTC’s consumer protection director, “simply did not have the science to back up its ads.” Under the settlement, the company was barred from making such claims without competent and reliable scientific evidence, and it had to notify subscribers and offer them an easy way to cancel.
This is worth knowing not to embarrass anyone who bought the app — the ads were professionally designed to prey on a completely natural fear of losing your mind with age — but to set the standard going forward. If a brain-game company makes big claims today, ask to see the independent evidence. That is exactly what regulators now require them to have.
What brain games can and cannot do
They can:
- Improve your performance on the specific tasks you practice — faster reaction times, better scores on similar exercises.
- Provide a modest workout for skills like processing speed when the training is structured and adaptive (as in the ACTIVE speed-training group).
- Keep you mentally occupied, which is better than being idle, and may lift mood simply through routine and a sense of progress.
They cannot (based on current evidence):
- Prevent or treat Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or mild cognitive impairment.
- Guarantee better performance at work, on tests, or in daily tasks.
- Replace the lifestyle factors that research links to slower cognitive decline.
- Make up for hearing loss, poor sleep, depression, or uncontrolled blood pressure — all of which affect thinking.
One more honest point: a landmark 2017 scientific review commissioned by the NIA called the evidence for lifestyle factors — including physical activity, blood pressure management, and cognitive training — in preventing Alzheimer’s “encouraging although inconclusive.” The evidence is growing, not settled. Anyone who tells you the science is final in either direction is selling something.
What the science says helps more
If the games are a small piece, what are the bigger ones? Here is what researchers link to better long-term cognitive health — the habits that kept showing up across large studies.
Physical exercise. Regular aerobic activity — brisk walking counts — is consistently linked to better brain health. Exercise improves blood flow, blood pressure, and sleep, all of which feed the brain. Staying active across midlife and beyond is one of the most reliable protective habits we know.
Learning real, demanding new skills. In one well-known study cited by the NIA, older adults who took up quilting or digital photography — genuinely new, mentally demanding hobbies — showed more memory improvement than those who merely socialized or did easier activities. Learning an instrument, a language, or a craft asks your brain to do what the games rarely do: handle novelty, complexity, and frustration over time.
Managing blood pressure. An NIH-funded trial called SPRINT MIND found that lowering systolic blood pressure to below 120 in adults age 50 and older reduced the risk of mild cognitive impairment. A separate analysis of large long-term studies linked treating high blood pressure to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Your heart’s health and your brain’s health are deeply connected.
Staying socially connected. People who feel isolated are more likely to develop depression and long-term health problems, and regular social engagement is linked to slower cognitive decline. Conversation, volunteering, and time with friends are genuine brain workouts.
Getting enough sleep. Most adults do best on about seven hours a night. Chronic poor sleep is linked to cognitive problems, and adequate rest supports memory consolidation — how the brain files away what you learned during the day.
Combining healthy habits. Perhaps the most powerful finding comes from NIA-funded research on lifestyle combinations: compared to people with none or one healthy lifestyle factor, the risk of Alzheimer’s was 37 percent lower in those with two to three factors and 60 percent lower in those with four to five. No single habit — and no single app — comes close to that.
If you enjoy the games: how to use them wisely
Maybe you actually like the games. That is fine — enjoyment is a perfectly good reason to keep playing, as long as you treat them honestly:
- Treat them as entertainment, not medicine. If the games are fun, play them — but do not skip your walk, your blood pressure check, or your sleep to fit in a session.
- Do not renew expensive subscriptions out of fear. A free puzzle, a crossword, or a good book costs less and asks more of your brain than most apps.
- Mix in real challenge. Pair 15 minutes of games with something genuinely new: a language app, a cooking class, learning to dance, or volunteering in a role that forces you to think.
- Track what matters. Instead of your game score, notice real-life markers: remembering names, following conversations, managing medications without mistakes.
Brain games vs. real brain builders
| Approach | Evidence for real-world benefit | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial brain-training apps | Limited — mostly improves game scores; NIA says evidence is insufficient | Often a paid subscription |
| ACTIVE-style speed training (with boosters) | Encouraging — 25% lower dementia diagnoses over 20 years in one trial | Not commercially available as tested |
| Learning a demanding new skill (language, instrument, craft) | Good — study cited by NIA found memory gains from quilting/digital photography | Low |
| Regular physical exercise | Strong — linked to better brain health and lower dementia risk | Free |
| Blood pressure control | Strong — SPRINT MIND: lower BP reduced mild cognitive impairment risk | Routine medical care |
| Social engagement | Good — isolation is linked to faster decline | Free |
| Healthy sleep (~7 hours) | Good — supports memory and brain function | Free |
When to see a doctor
Occasional forgetfulness — misplacing keys, blanking on a name that comes back to you later — is usually a normal part of aging. But see your doctor if memory problems disrupt daily life: getting lost in familiar places, repeating questions frequently, struggling to manage money or medications, or a family member expressing concern. Depression, thyroid problems, vitamin B12 deficiency, medication side effects, sleep apnea, and hearing loss can all cause or worsen memory problems — and several of these are treatable. No app can tell you which of these is going on; only a clinician can sort that out.
Related reading: Memory After 60: Normal Aging vs. Warning Signs
Sources
- National Institute on Aging (NIA), “Cognitive Health and Older Adults” — https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/brain-health/cognitive-health-and-older-adults
- NIA, “Combination of healthy lifestyle traits may substantially reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk” — https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/combination-healthy-lifestyle-traits-may-substantially-reduce-alzheimers-disease-risk
- NIA, “High Blood Pressure and Older Adults” (includes SPRINT MIND findings) — https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/high-blood-pressure/high-blood-pressure-and-older-adults
- NHS Wales 111, “Living with dementia: looking after your health” — https://111.wales.nhs.uk/LiveWell/Dementia/Livingwell/
- FTC, “Concurring Statement of Commissioner Julie Brill” on the Lumosity settlement (Jan 4, 2016) — https://search.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/903353/160104lumositystatement.pdf
This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. Talk to your clinician about any memory concerns.
