A professor speaks
Brain workouts, memory games, brain teasers… it is said that you keep your brain in (top) shape. But are these games and workouts actually effective? How do they stimulate the brain? And the key question: can you actually improve your memory with games?
Professor of Theoretical Neuropsychology Jaap Murre of the University of Amsterdam answers the most pressing questions.
To start with the most important question: can you really improve and train the functioning of your brain with a game console or brain training on the internet?
“I have to give a twofold answer to that: yes and no. Yes, because every training helps to keep your brain active and no, because it depends very much on what you train. Because if you only train multiplications, you don’t get over the overall better at math, but will only improve the score on that specific part.
It is also not the case that with that training of those multiplications you automatically understand the underlying idea. You’re just training the trick. In addition, it makes quite a difference whether you are already active or not. With someone whose brain is not, or hardly, stimulated, the added value and effect is much greater than with someone who is already involved with complex things on a daily basis.”
Many workouts also focus on improving memory. Does that work?
“I can’t give a simple answer to that either, because memory is very complex. It is certainly possible to train your brain and your memory. There are all kinds of techniques for that. For example, there are special training courses in test laboratories.
One of the people trained for weeks to remember eighty numbers at once. He did indeed get a much larger working memory for numbers, the so-called digit span, but it did not translate into a better memory for faces. Such training to remember rows is also common in memory games. You get better and better at the game because of this, but your cognitive memory, your understanding, is not trained by it.
How can you train your brain and memory most effectively?
“Those memory games are great as part of a broader set of ways to train your memory. If you need to remember something, use a creative way. Of course, mnemonics from others will also help and if you can’t think of anything, they can help you on your way. Making up your own associations with words or names turns out to be very effective.
I will give an example that is also on my website: suppose you meet someone named Prof. Prlwitzkowski. To remember that name, it helps to parse the name. For example in ‘pearl white coffee ski’. Then visualize that name as white pearls in a cup of coffee on skis. In this way you combine two things: dissecting and visualizing and it is precisely that combination that strengthens the memory capacity.”
Is the effect of memory training measurable?
“A lot of studies have already been done into the effects of memory training. Games and brain training appear to have broad effects in children and young people. It has been proven that the brain needs stimuli to stay alert and active. Those who continue to stimulate their brains are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. A game computer or brain training via the internet is fun and can help with that.
But not only games are important to keep your brain in shape. Sports also contribute to this. Exercise improves blood circulation throughout your body, including your brain. And about stress I would like to say that a little stress is right, it makes the brain alert. It becomes a different story if someone has a lot of stress for a long time. That is disastrous and can even cause permanent brain damage.”
