Game that trains your brain can boost your mental skills

A bizarre brain training game that can boost mental skills in less than an hour has been discovered by scientists.

It relies on an effect called neurofeedback, where brainwaves are monitored and positive reinforcement is given when a desired brain state is reached, according to Daily Mail.

In the case of this study, experts gave one group of volunteers positive feedback for imagining hand movements, while another were given incorrect positive feedback.

Participants who were told they were using the correct areas of their brains when they imagined the movements had stronger brainwaves is the corresponding area.

The technique could pave the way to create better treatments for stroke and Parkinson’s disease victims, researchers say.

Brazilian researchers found showing people real-time scans of their brain activity while completing a mental task boosted their brain power.

They asked 36 healthy adults to imagine moving their left hand while keeping it still for half an hour.

Half were shown a real-time display showing if they were activating the right parts of their brains and the others were given false readings as a placebo.

Researchers assessed everyone’s brain connectivity and wiring immediately before and after the exercise.

Study author Dr Theo Marins, said: ‘We knew that the brain has an amazing ability to adapt itself, but we were not sure that we could observe these changes so quickly.

‘Understanding of how we can impact on brain wiring and functioning is the key to treat neurological disorders.’

Scientists have suspected Neurofeedback could be a way of regulating brain areas that have stopped working properly – such as in chronic pain and depression sufferers.

It generally involves using magnetic resonance imaging to show people their own brain activity in real time and have them gain control over it.

Study leader Dr Fernanda Tonvar Moll, said: ‘We showed that the neurofeedback can be considered a powerful tool to induce brain changes at record speed.

‘Now, our goal is to develop new studies to test whether patients with neurological disorders can also benefit from it.’

N.H.Kh