Brain training games

[WWDog]

I do kakuro puzzles. Like sudoku only the spaces add up to the given number in the column or row. You can only use each number 1 through 9 once in each row or column. The only hints are the sum and the number of spaces that add up to the sum.

 

[Vinnygret]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed, but does anyone here do brain training games? I do Lumosity and have for a couple years. It's like 10-15 minutes a day. Not sure if it really helps the brain and I'm also a little dubious that my results are in the "high percentile" for almost every category
Anyone have other suggestions? are these things even legit?


thanks!

I used to do those games. I noticed that I never got any better at the games that were challenging for me. I finally just quit once it became a chore versus fun. I play a few games of solitaire every day (mostly in memory of my dad who died in 2020) and I do the NYT crossword puzzles. Those activities are still interesting to me. I occasionally play an online game or two that target skills that are challenging for me. I don't pay for any of these activities.

 

[Vinnygret]

I do kakuro puzzles. Like sudoku only the spaces add up to the given number in the column or row. You can only use each number 1 through 9 once in each row or column. The only hints are the sum and the number of spaces that add up to the sum.

That would be torture for me! I stink at math and I don't enjoy any activity that calls for it.

 

[Amethyst]

I like all sorts of puzzles and games, but if I do anything more than the occasional crossword I'll never have time to post here!

I used to do those games. I noticed that I never got any better at the games that were challenging for me. I finally just quit once it became a chore versus fun. I play a few games of solitaire every day (mostly in memory of my dad who died in 2020) and I do the NYT crossword puzzles. Those activities are still interesting to me. I occasionally play an online game or two that target skills that are challenging for me. I don't pay for any of these activities.

 

[hotwired]

My reading and podcast listening tells me the same. In fact the latest news says there's a literally zero evidence that brain training exercises have any benefit. Good old-fashioned aerobic and anaerobic exercise seems to be the closest thing to a Magic bullet that there is. Exercise, nutrition, sleep. That's the three-legged stool and 85% of the health and longevity bucket.

 

[Amethyst]

Now if they could only get the Prevagen jellyfish people and their shill, the "actual neuroscientist."

He's correct. In fact Lumosity has been fined for implying that playing it's games staves off dementia.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/01/lumosity-pay-2-million-settle-ftc-deceptive-advertising-charges

 

[FREE866]

My reading and podcast listening tells me the same. In fact the latest news says there's a literally zero evidence that brain training exercises have any benefit. Good old-fashioned aerobic and anaerobic exercise seems to be the closest thing to a Magic bullet that there is. Exercise, nutrition, sleep. That's the three-legged stool and 85% of the health and longevity bucket.

I agree that exercise is tremendously important. Do you have a source for the claim that brain training games have zero evidence of any benefit?

 

[Vinnygret]

NYT Crosswords

Me too. Do you despise purposely-scrambled letters in the answers as much as I do? It's annoying to look at the answers to yesterday's puzzle, which I couldn't even get a bite on, and see that the answers are deliberately mixed up (e.g. all are short the same two letters).

I had to smile at your term "get a bite on"- that's the exact word I use when I'm I'm trying to start a hard NYT puzzle. I hate Thursdays because I think of them as the smarta$$ puzzle of the week - they're always so cute (grrr). It's funny to me that someone else thinks about getting a bite on the puzzle. I follow Rex Parker's blog for the NYT. He's very funny and usually explains the silly tricks the constructors make.

 

[Amethyst]

Am not currently subscribed to the Times. Now I have a cheap tempo subscription to the New Yorker, and do their "challenging" puzzles, which are much easier than the NYT puzzles, past about Wednesday.

I couldn't do a modern crossword at all without Google, though. They rely so heavily on celebrity names, TV shows, etc in which I have zero interest. That seems to be a 21st century development.

I had to smile at your term "get a bite on"- that's the exact word I use when I'm I'm trying to start a hard NYT puzzle. I hate Thursdays because I think of them as the smarta$$ puzzle of the week - they're always so cute (grrr). It's funny to me that someone else thinks about getting a bite on the puzzle. I follow Rex Parker's blog for the NYT. He's very funny and usually explains the silly tricks the constructors make.

 

[Vinnygret]

Am not currently subscribed to the Times. Now I have a cheap tempo subscription to the New Yorker, and do their "challenging" puzzles, which are much easier than the NYT puzzles, past about Wednesday.

I couldn't do a modern crossword at all without Google, though. They rely so heavily on celebrity names, TV shows, etc in which I have zero interest. That seems to be a 21st century development.

My husband often "starts" the puzzles and then gives them to me. So I have a double challenge. He is hopeless with popular culture. I'm not a whiz at it, but I do better than he does. We have an online subscription to our local Baltimore paper and he prints out the syndicated puzzles; I think they are 2 weeks behind the real puzzles, but I don't care. We're too far from NY to get the Times, though they would send it to us if we were to subscribe. Rex Parker doesn't charge to use his site, but asks for donations, which I provide because I use the site so often. Check out his site. It's really interesting and educational in the ways of the NYT puzzles.