The Brain Needs a Workout, Too: Games for Cognitive Health
Can a computer game help reduce dementia risk? One study says yes.
Games can be serious business. That’s true in the NFL, at the poker table, in Marty Supreme–and in Alzheimer’s research.
In a randomized control study published in February, more than 2,800 people over 65 years of age completed between 14 to 22 hours of speed processing cognitive training in the form of a computer game. Twenty years later, this group of participants had a 25% lower risk of developing dementia.
While researchers stress that more studies must be done, they’re also expressing surprise, even astonishment, at the finding: just a small number of hours of computer-based training can have a significant effect on brain health decades later.
The game used in the study, Double Decision from the company BrainHQ, trains players on processing speed. (Study participants who played memory and reasoning games didn’t show significant improvements in dementia risk over time.) This “speed training” game has also been shown to improve safe driving skills and expand peripheral vision. It asks players to remember which objects they saw in the center of the screen, while also noticing objects appearing to the sides.
The cognitive benefits of learning a new instrument, dance, or game, like pickleball, are similar to the benefits of playing Double Decision or other speed training games. And with those activities, physical and social interaction add on to the beneficial effects, says Dr. Andrew Budson of Boston University, neurologist and author of Why We Forget and How to Remember Better: The Science Behind Memory. He said he was impressed by the recent findings about dementia risk, but that more research is needed. He also wouldn’t personally prescribe computer games over other pursuits for brain health…except perhaps television. “If someone is debating, ‘Should I watch television for three hours or do computer games for three hours?’ my answer is yes, it would be better to do the computer games,” he told AARP.
Brain Training Games That Support Cognitive Function
According to the UK’s Alzheimer’s Society, people should be wary of cognitive games claiming to lower one’s risk of dementia. This research is too new, and not all games have shown the same results.
The good news is that, even though only very limited evidence so far shows how people can use games to lower dementia risk, many studies have shown how games can help people improve their memory, attention, and motor speed at any age.
Crossword puzzles. Some evidence suggests that crossword puzzles can support strong memory into later life.
Sudoku and other numbers-based puzzles. Playing regular games of Sudoku has been shown to improve cognitive function.
Video games like Angry Birds. Yes, it’s true: at least one study shows that video games including Super Mario and Angry Birds can improve memory in older adults.
Pattern recognition and matching games. These games can help improve short-term memory. AARP has a fun library of these online games.
Brain exercises may not be a panacea, but they are financially accessible to most people and carry little risk. The biggest risk might be frustration when the game gets difficult. Another factor to consider is balancing screen time with other pursuits that, as Dr. Budson pointed out, may carry the additional benefits of social interaction and physical exercise. Both of these, of course, have been strongly correlated with brain health in later life.
Don’t clear your schedule to make room for computerized brain games. But next time you open the crossword, Mahjong, or Angry Birds apps, know that you are indeed doing your future brain a little favor.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/18/nx-s1-5716010/brain-training-exercise-cut-dementia-risk-decades
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/4-worthwhile-brain-games-older-adults-3
Society of Certified Senior Advisors: The Brain Needs a Workout, Too: Games for Cognitive Health
