Looking back at 2020, it was clearly hard year for many of us—but on the glass half-full side of things, it was a great year for scientific research on the efficacy of brain training.
In just that one year, 57 scholarly articles were published on BrainHQ exercises and assessments (a pace of more than one a week)!
The publications included reports on 32 randomized controlled trials of BrainHQ exercises, eight reviews and meta-analyses that included BrainHQ findings, and 17 other journal articles on pilots and other non-randomized trials of the exercises, as well as studies of BrainHQ assessments.
The papers included trials involving healthy adults and people with (or at risk for) a variety of clinical conditions – Alzheimer’s, Chemobrain, Conduct Disorder, Depression, Diabetes, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Heart Failure, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Stroke, Schizophrenia, and Substance Use Disorders.
“We’re now amassing evidence at breakneck speed” noted Dr. Mahncke, “which we will be sharing with advocacy groups, grant-makers, clinicians, and regulators – to ensure this science reaches the people it can help.”
There are more than 100 published studies of the exercises in BrainHQ which have shown benefits, including gains in standard measures of cognition (attention, speed, memory, executive function), in standard measures of quality of life (mood, confidence and control, managing stress, health-related quality of life) and in real world activities (gait, balance, driving, work). BrainHQ is now offered, without charge, as a benefit by leading national and 5-star Medicare Advantage plans and by hundreds of clinics and communities.