The Major Flaw In Brain Training Studies
Tetris Psychology Glynn Clements via Wikimedia Commons People in the control group always realizes they're just playing Tetris for hours. In randomized drug trials, placebos are straightforward. Some people get drugs; some people get sugar pills. People aren't quite sure what's in their pill, so everyone has the same expectations that their condition will improve. When it comes to psychological studies, it's a little trickier. In studies of whether or not something like a brain training exercise improves cognition, people notice which treatment they're receiving, and adjust their expectations for benefit accordingly. This could have implications for research on the effect of brain training and other psychological interventions, notes a study published in the July issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science. Psychologists Walter Boot and Daniel Simons looked at how people expect their cognitive and perceptual abilities--in areas like visual processing, attention, and task switching--to improve after watching videos of...