Simple Computer Game Cuts Dementia Risk by 25% After Two Decades

Revolutionary Research Reveals Lasting Brain Protection

Just 23 hours of brain training over three years could slash your risk of developing dementia by 25% for the next two decades. A large, long-term study found that playing a brain training video game may help protect the brain against dementia for decades. Experts say the findings are the strongest evidence yet that cognitive training can create lasting changes in the brain.

The research, published Monday in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, was a long-term follow-up of the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) trial. The study tracked nearly 3,000 participants ages 65 and older for 20 years, making it one of the most comprehensive investigations of its kind.

"It's very surprising," said Marilyn Albert, director of the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. "It's not at all what I would have expected." Even more remarkable, "The idea that a behavioral, experimental intervention delivered 20-plus years ago can have an effect on the cognitive health of people over 20 years is kind of amazing," noted researcher Richard N. Jones from Brown University.

The Winning Formula: Speed Training Plus Boosters

The breakthrough came from a specific type of cognitive training focused on visual processing speed. In the speed training, which emphasized visual perception, individuals were asked to identify objects on a screen quickly and make a decision about them. It's a similar thought process to what happens when we drive, said Albert.

Study participants were initially assigned to do up to 10 sessions of training, twice per week for 60 to 75 minutes per session over five weeks. Approximately half of the participants in each training group got additional booster training for up to 23 hours over a three year period. The results were striking: The participants who did speed training and received the booster sessions were found to have a 25% reduction in the risk of a dementia diagnosis compared with the control group. Those without the additional sessions did not see a benefit.

Other forms of brain training showed no protective effects. In memory training, participants were taught strategies for remembering lists of words anddetails of stories. In reasoning training, study participants worked on the ability to solve problems that follow a serial pattern, like identifying the pattern in a letter or number series. Those in the memory and reasoning training did not see any protective effect against dementia.

The Science Behind the Success

Why did speed training succeed where other methods failed? While the researchers don't know for sure why speed training showed a benefit while the other forms did not, one possibility lies in the difference between implicit and explicit learning. Implicit learning involves learning an unconscious habit or skill such as riding a bike. Explicit learning, on the other hand, deals with the conscious learning of facts, such as learning vocabulary off a flash card.

"We know that implicit learning is completely different from explicit learning and uses different parts of the brain," Albert said. "Once the brain rewires for these skills, the change is durable even without continued practice," she said. "A child can learn how to ride a bike in about 10 hours, and afterwards that learning lasts a lifetime."

Speed training may cause physical changes to the brain, leading to new and stronger connections between brain networks. This neuroplasticity demonstrates the brain's remarkable ability to adapt and protect itself against cognitive decline.

Hope for an Aging Population

The timing couldn't be more critical. More than 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's. And that figure is expected to nearly double to almost 14 million by 2060, with a new person developing the mind-robbing illness every 65 seconds, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

Since the study launched, Posit Science acquired the technology and updated the software, now called Double Decision by BrainHQ. The version available today for consumers is considerably more sophisticated than what volunteers used in the study. "It builds on the concept that relatively small amounts of effort can really pay dividends for decades to come," said Dr. Richard Isaacson, a preventive neurologist at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Boca Raton, Florida.

While experts urge caution and call for additional research to confirm these findings, the results offer unprecedented hope that simple, accessible interventions could help millions maintain their cognitive health well into their golden years. The brain's capacity for protection and adaptation may be far greater than previously imagined.