A new video game developed by an online gaming site along with scientists from University of Michigan has been found to improve intelligence.
Developed by Luminosity.com, the Dual N-Back training program improves intelligence and memory capacity by challenging users to simultaneously remember items that they see and hear. The researchers said that training on the Dual N-Back task resulted in gains in working memory and fluid intelligence that were significantly greater than those seen in the control group. Fluid intelligence, the ability to creatively solve novel problems, is a form of intelligence that had previously been thought to be fixed from a young age.
The study has debunked long-held belief that intelligence cannot be improved. This research also showed that the more subjects trained, the more their fluid intelligence improved.
“The online availability of the dual n-back task is a great step forward for our ongoing research and we are happy having found Lumos Labs as a competent partner,” said Dr. Martin Buschkuehl, at the University of Michigan.
“The online training variant will increase our throughput and speed up further research concerned with the dual n-back task as a training paradigm,” added Dr. Susanne Jaeggi, also from University of Michigan.
“This research is critically important to our understanding of how exercising the brain transfers to real-life improvements,” said Michael Scanlon, Chief Science Officer at Lumos Labs.
