Brain experts and the BBC are launching a mass British experiment to test whether brain games actually improve brain performance. The study launches at 7.30 pm BST on tonight’s (Monday 7 September) episode of the BBC1 television programme Bang Goes The Theory.
A host of celebrities will appear on the show to help launch the experiment, said the BBC.
The experiment is called Brain Test Britain, and participants are invited to do a 10-minute online set of brain exercises three times a week for six weeks. Scientists will then compare before and after results to measure any improvement in brain function.
One expert who will be helping with the investigation is Medical Research Council (MRC) scientist Dr Adrian Owen, a specialist in brain imaging and cognitive function at the MRC Unit in Cambridge.
Owen and colleagues at Cambridge Brain Sciences have developed a website that forms part of the Brain Test Britain project.
The Cambridge Brain Sciences website tests four categories of brain working: memory, reasoning, concentration and planning.
Owen told the press that:
“Brain training is now a billion pound industry, yet very few rigorous scientific studies have been conducted to find out if it actually works.”
“What we are doing in collaboration with the BBC, is to really put brain training under the microscope,” he added.
Hundreds of people have already signed up and started testing their own brains. The data, which is collected anonymously, will be:
“Incredibly useful for our research into the causes and effects of brain damage and disease,” said Owen, explaining that:
“The technology could be applied in a number of ways to monitor the efficacy of pharmaceutical products as well as in clinical trials of patients with disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
Owen and colleagues will be working with the MRC Technology team to develop the idea further.
Dementia and Alzheimer’s result from massive loss of brain cells, and some people believe that staying mentally active throughout life helps to guard against this by building up lots of connections between brain cells.
This has prompted a mass market into brain training games, but a recent investigation by consumer watchdog Which? didn’t find any strong evidence to support the theory.
However, in 2007 researchers at the University of California Irvine, and more recently at Kings College London, have suggested that keeping an active mind, especially into old age, may protect against dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The Alzheimer’s Society told the BBC that should the experiment show that brain training improved brain function, there would still have to be a long term study to investigate if improving brain function protects against Alzheimer’s.
However, the Society’s director of research, Professor Clive Ballard, said it was still vital to understand if there was any truth in the old saying “use it or lose it”.
“Every week thousands of people spend time exercising their brain using some form of computer-based brain training, but the jury’s still out on whether exercising your brain can boost your brain power,” said Ballard.
Experts suggest that over the next 40 years the number of people witih dementia in the UK could rise to 1.7 million, another 1 million more than the 700,000 living with the condition today.
The findings of the experiment will be broadcast in a one-off show some time next year, said the BBC, explaining that afterwards the results will be used by various research bodies such as the MRC and the Alzheimer’s Society.
Sources: MRC, BBC.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD