One Type of Brain Training Cut Dementia Risk Decades Later, Study Shows

Dr. Ron Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota, similarly stressed that the results are interesting but not definitive.

“These things might be beneficial, but I wouldn’t go to the bank with this,” he says.

Nonetheless, both experts note that the study reinforces a familiar message when it comes to brain health: Staying mentally engaged matters.

The study design

To conduct the study, researchers randomly assigned cognitively healthy people 65 and older to one of three types of brain training — speed, memory or reasoning — or to a control group. They were asked to complete two 60- to 75-minute sessions a week for five or six weeks.

In addition, about half of the people in each group were randomly assigned to do “booster” training — four sessions at the end of the first year and another four at the three-year mark.

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The researchers then used Medicare records to see who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia 20 years later. At follow-up, the average surviving participant was almost 94 years old.

They found that those who completed the speed-based training and later participated in booster sessions saw a 25 percent reduction in dementia risk. Participants in the other training groups and those who skipped the booster training also had a lower risk of dementia, but it was not enough to be statistically significant.

The benefit of the speed-based training was consistent regardless of participants’ age at the time of training, Albert says.

What type of brain training worked?

The speed training targeted something called speed of processing — essentially how quickly your brain takes in information and reacts. It relies on what scientists call implicit learning, or learning by doing rather than memorizing, Albert says.

Participants saw images on a screen and had to make quick decisions while also noticing objects in their peripheral vision, she explains. The exercises also became more challenging as users improved.

“You’re switching your attention back and forth between these two things and trying to make decisions very rapidly,” Albert says. “The task itself is pretty demanding.”

Researchers aren’t sure why speed training worked while the other exercises did not.

One possibility is that it may help build “brain reserve,” allowing the brain to function longer despite age-related changes. Albert speculates that the training could improve brain connectivity, “to make different parts of the brain work better together.”

A version of the training program used in the research is now available commercially through the BrainHQ website and app. The exercise, called “Double Decision,” is offered as part of a paid subscription service. (One of the authors disclosed financial ties to Posit Science, the company that markets the training.)

What this means for brain health

Budson and Petersen emphasize that the study is best viewed as more evidence on the importance of staying cognitively active and engaged rather than an endorsement of a particular brain-training product.

Budson says activities such as learning a new instrument or playing pickleball can challenge the brain in similar ways to the speed-of-processing training by building skills that become more automatic with practice.

“I personally would never encourage someone to do computerized brain training games at home,” says Budson, author of Why We Forget and How to Remember Better: The Science Behind Memory. “I want people to be out in the world.”

He says he believes computerized brain training is worthwhile only as an alternative to passive screen time like watching TV: “If someone is debating, ‘Should I watch television for three hours or do computer games for three hours?’ my answer is yes, it would be better to do the computer games,” he says.

Petersen, of the Mayo Clinic, says brain training is best viewed as part of a broader approach to brain health and should be paired with other evidence-based strategies such as exercise, social engagement and managing cardiovascular health.

“The take-home message,” he says, is that “yes — absolutely — keeping yourself intellectually active and using your brain as you age is good advice.”