Wall Street Journal Reviews Brain Fitness Software, Finds No Clear Winners

The Wall Street Journal's look at brain exercise software agreed with us on their effectiveness but treated the market leader far better than we did.

In "Putting Brain Exercises to the Test," (link requires subscription) Kelly Greene reports that "Scientists don't universally accept the use-it-or-lose-it mantra. ... For the moment, definitive answers to the question -- Will brain exercise help me? -- will have to wait for additional testing." That's what we reported in our review of Nintendo's Brain Age.

However, the WSJ's reviewing panel was far more enamored of Brain Age than our lukewarm review: "Our testers, two of their husbands and a couple of teenage kids loved using this set of games on the go." They did note one problem we missed, which is that your "brain age" can drop by decades in just a few days -- making one wonder just how scientific that metric is.

Other products reviewed included Brainbuilder.com ("the least fun"), Posit Science's Brain Fitness Program 2.0 ("basic" and "boring," but backed by real science), Quixit's web-based Happy Neuron (the most creative of the lot), CogniFit's MindFit (the CD-ROM seemed to feel the most effective to the testers, and was voted most fun), and MyBrainTrainer.com (the worst of the group for clarity and directions, but with some worthwhile exercises).

Each had weaknesses and none emerged a clear winner, although the WSJ gives a push in the direction of Happy Neuron and Brain Age, noting that if exercise -- mental or physical -- isn't fun, people don't stick with it.