Brain games
I Googled “puzzle good for brain research” because I'm Max and the first link was to an article titled “Why Jigsaw Puzzles Are Good For The Brain”. The article wasn’t terrible to read but made a lot of statements without any evidence and no author listed. Also every word in its title was capitalized which simply can’t be correct. Sort of like it was something written to sell jigsaw puzzles and justify buying them (for pity’s sake, isn’t enjoyment enough?). Blah. The third result was an article which I’ve linked below (written by a cognitive neuroscientist with linked studies).
Sounds like brain games aren’t bad but what exists now isn’t going to improve our critical thinking skills. I liked the parts about how uninterrupted deep thinking is good and how multitasking is bad. I think she does make an error in using a study on heavy multitaskers to conclude that using electronic media is a bad thing. It’s the consumption of multiple sources of electronic stimuli at the same time that’s shown to have negative effects, not the consumption of electronic stimuli itself (at least in the study she cited). Besides this the article made sense to me.
So, if you’re going to play video games just play video games. If you’re going to peruse Facebook just peruse Facebook. If you’re going to watch Netflix put away the tablet (I’m so guilty of not doing this). It’s better for our brains to do just one thing at a time. And brain games are ok but won’t make us smarter (at least not in any meaningful way).
Oh yeah, it’s worth reading through all of the linked studies in the article (at least check out the abstracts). Good stuff.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/make-your-brain-smarter/201403/do-brain-games-really-boost-brainpower
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