MENTAL HEALTH - Do Memory Video Games Help With Alzheimer's?

NOTE:  I use Lumosity.  As to the statement that their claims are exaggerated, that's true, but that is what ALL advertizing does.

"Can memory video games deliver on brain-boosting claims?" PBS Newshour 12/20/2013

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  This weekend, the crossword puzzle marks its hundredth birthday.  First published in a New York newspaper, it's become a daily ritual for many and even been rumored to help stave off dementia.  But there isn't much evidence to back up that claim.

On the other hand, special correspondent Jake Schoneker reports on new research using video games to sharpen an aging mind.

JAKE SCHONEKER:  Fifty-seven-year-old Ashley Wolff has been a self-employed children's author and illustrator for 25 years, working out of her small home studio in San Francisco.  She says she loves being her own boss, but that working from home can be a challenge.

ASHLEY WOLFF, author and illustrator:  Working from home allows me really to just let my attention deficit problem fly.

JAKE SCHONEKER:  Like many people her age, she's recently found herself forgetting things more often, and getting easily distracted from work.  She was worried about these problems getting worse as she got older, especially because her mother, at age 85, was beginning to exhibit signs of Alzheimer's disease.

ASHLEY WOLFF:  My sister and I are watching our mother kind of lose her memory.  And we thought, gee, wow, she always did the New York times crossword puzzle, and always seemed so sharp, and here she is, none of that helped her.  And we thought, we should try something.

JAKE SCHONEKER:  So she decided so try cognitive training, a new breed of video game designed to exercise the brain.  She now gets a daily reminder to log on to her laptop for a 15-minute mental workout.