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WHAT were we talking about? Oh yes, brain training may help inattentive people focus on tasks in their daily life. At least, that鈥檚 the implication of an analysis of one programme in particular.
at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, combined the results of 12 randomly controlled trials looking at the effects of , which is designed to improve working memory. The studies all included a measure of the programme鈥檚 impact on people鈥檚 attentiveness in daily life, and all but one looked at children or adults who had problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
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Cogmed reduced inattention by an 鈥渆ffect size鈥� of 0.47. Four months later, this had dropped to 0.33. In educational interventions, an effect size of 0.25 is deemed valuable, says Spencer-Smith. She describes the effect as 鈥渕oderate to large鈥� but questions if this is enough for something that has people training for 15 hours over five weeks. at the University of California, Irvine, says more studies are needed to draw firm conclusions (PLoS ONE, ).
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淏rain training can focus the mind鈥�