Brain training for adults, without the games

Think for yourself6 min read

Brain training games make you better at the games. A large independent review found little evidence that the gains carry over to other tasks or to daily life. If you want to practise thinking itself, try this instead: one word, ten thoughts of your own, then read and compare, recall it days later, and try one thing in real life.

That is the whole page in one paragraph. The rest is the evidence, and the practice in detail.

Do brain training games work?

An independent review in 2016 looked at the studies brain-training companies themselves cited. It found extensive evidence that training improves the trained tasks, less evidence for closely related tasks, and little evidence for distantly related tasks or everyday thinking. Many of the studies also had design problems.

That review is Simons and six co-authors, "Do 'Brain-Training' Programs Work?", in Psychological Science in the Public Interest (2016). They did not pick weak studies to knock down. They took the peer-reviewed studies that leading brain-training companies listed as their best support, and graded them against a set of best practices. None of the cited studies met all of them.

So the honest answer is narrow. If you play a memory game every day, you will very likely get better at that memory game. Whether that makes you better at remembering where you put your keys, or at thinking through a problem at work, is the part the evidence does not show.

What did the FTC say about brain games?

In January 2016 the US Federal Trade Commission charged that the makers of Lumosity had deceived consumers with unfounded claims that their games could help people perform better at work and in school, and reduce or delay cognitive decline. The company agreed to pay $2 million to settle the charges.

The FTC's press release is plain about it. The head of its consumer protection bureau, Jessica Rich, said: "Lumosity simply did not have the science to back up its ads."

I bring this up for one reason. I am about to describe a daily practice, and I will not make the kind of claim the FTC called unfounded. I will not tell you it improves your memory, your attention or your intelligence. I have no study of it, and I know of none.

What I can tell you is what the practice asks of you, and where it came from.

Why I stopped looking for a game

In 2020 I started my first company. I kept seeing the same thing: people looked at the surface of a problem, and then they decided.

So I made a small game for my team. Every day at tea time, one person got a random topic. The first one was "cow". They had to say ten points about it, out loud. The audience said whatever came to mind first, and the person with the topic could not repeat any of it.

Within two minutes the shallow thoughts were gone. Someone else had already said them. The person holding the topic still had to find ten.

Over the weeks, the team started to think before they talked. That is what I saw. It is not a study. But notice what kind of game it was. No points, no levels, no screen. The only thing being trained was the act of going past the first thought everyone shares. More on why the tenth matters in the tenth thought.

What are good brain exercises for adults?

The exercise here is not a puzzle. Pick one word. Write ten thoughts about it from your own head, before you search or ask an AI. Then read one good page and compare. A few days later, recall it without looking. Then do one small thing with it in real life.

You need a pen, a page and about fifteen minutes.

1. One word. Small and concrete: salt, a bridge, rain, a door. If you are stuck for one, there is a list in thinking prompts.
2. Ten thoughts. Ten numbered lines. Facts, guesses, questions, doubts. No search, no AI. Around line four the easy ones run out. Keep going. That is the point of the exercise, not a sign it is failing.
3. Read or ask. Now look it up. One good page, or one person who knows.
4. Compare. Under your ten, write two lines. What did I already have? What was new to me?
5. Recall. Two or three days later, cover the page and write what you remember. Then check.
6. One thing in real life. Look at a real bridge and find the part you read about. Tell someone one thing you found, in your own words.

Steps 5 and 6 are the ones people skip. They are also the only honest check on whether anything stayed. The longer version, with what it will and will not do, is in how to get smarter as an adult.

Mind games for adults vs a thinking practice

A brain game gives you a task someone else designed, a score, and a reason to come back. A thinking practice gives you a blank page and a word. The game is easier to start. The page asks you to produce something of your own, which is the whole difference.

Here is how I see the two side by side.

• Who sets the task. A game sets it. On paper, you pick the word and you decide what counts as a thought.
• What you leave with. A game leaves a score. The page leaves ten lines that are yours, and a note of what you read.
• Where it ends. A game is built so you play another round. One word a day has an end.
• Real life. A game stays on the screen. Step 6 is the only step that does not happen on paper.

I am not telling you to delete a puzzle you enjoy. Play it because you like it. Just do not play it because an ad told you it was protecting your brain. If what you want is something to do with ten free minutes, there are more ideas on what to do when you are bored.

How to keep a daily thinking practice going

• Same moment, every day. We used tea time. Pick a moment you already have.
• One word is enough. A finished page beats a planned hour.
• Keep the pages. Read them back at the end of the week.
• Do not look it up at line four. That is exactly where the practice happens.

A brain training app that starts with a blank page

Paper works. You do not need anything else.

I built DoomsHuman for myself first, as a gym for this habit. Every topic starts with ten bullets you write, and nothing else in that topic opens until you do. Recall questions come back after 1, 3, 7, 21 and 60 days. Each topic ends in three real-world activities, logged in your own words. You can try the cow game on the first screen without an account; what you type there stays in your browser.

Why build it? To prepare humans for Dooms Day. When corporate giants or a super AI take over most of the world, a small group of people will rebel. That group will be smart, sharp and real. Ten thoughts on a cow is one small step in getting ready.

FAQ

How do I train my brain?

I cannot promise to train your brain, and the 2016 review above is a good reason to be careful with anyone who does. What you can practise is a habit: write ten thoughts on one word before you look anything up, compare with what you read, and recall it a few days later.

Are mind games for adults worth playing?

If you enjoy them, yes, as games. The 2016 review found good evidence that people get better at the tasks they train, and little evidence that this carries over to everyday thinking. Play for fun, not for a promise.

What are good brain exercises for adults?

One that makes you produce something of your own. Pick one word, write ten thoughts about it with no search and no AI, then read one page and compare. Recall it a few days later and do one small thing with it in real life.

What is the best brain training app?

I will not rank apps, and I would be wary of any app that claims it improves your memory or delays decline; in 2016 one company paid $2 million to settle FTC charges over claims like that. A blank page and a pen are enough for the practice on this page.