BrainTrainingIdeas

Which activities are most useful for training the brain?

Activities for brain training

• Learn a musical instrument (see LearningMusic)
• Learn a foreign language (see LanguageLearning)
• Learn MnemonicTechniques

There are lots of types of video games that might be useful:

• Puzzle games
• Games involving rotation (e.g. Tetris) - there is evidence that this may improve mental rotation skills (See BrainTrainingGames)
• First person shooter games
• Music games such as Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, etc. These games can be intense and demand a lot of constant concentration.

Making activities intense

• Use time pressure. For example, a simple math question (like "what is 5 + 3") is on its own not very mentally demanding. But when you answer lots of these questions as fast as possible under time pressure (as is the case in Nintendo Brain Age, for example), the activity can feel quite demanding.

Activities which are not useful for brain training

• Rote learning. There is evidence that learning lots of material by rote doesn't result in your ability to learn by rote improving.

See also

• BrainTrainingGames
• ImprovingIntelligence