Cognitive scores deteriorate with age: Study

According to recent studies carried out by leading brain-training games developer MIND360, people's cognitive scores do indeed deteriorate with age. The research results were compiled following careful observations of players engaged in the company's science based online brain games within an uncontrolled environment.

Twenty-year-olds, according to the study, achieved the highest scores. However, when gauging the performances of "consistent trainers," this particular group's overall scores indicated no cognitive decline with age. The greatest training results came from playing MIND360's executive function brain fitness games, and while the memory games revealed significant improvements, their impact was less, signifying that players require more intense memory training.

Overall Player Improvements

In the areas of executive function, logic and reasoning, and visual perception, all players showed cognitive improvements by an average of more than 25% after five training sessions. The greatest improvements among this general group were achieved after training their visual perception skills -- approximately 33% after five sessions. This was followed by sustained attention, which resulted in a rise of about 28% in these players' ability to focus after five sessions. Among those training their face and name recognition skills, optimum performances were achieved after 10 sessions, indicating a 50% improvement rate.

Results According to Education

High school graduates scored highest in MIND360's visual perception memory training games, while university graduates recorded the highest scores when training their logic and reasoning capabilities.

Overall, there were no significant gender-based differences in the players' cognitive scores.