Brain Training

It’s Brain Fitness Week, so come and buff up your brain. Find out if puzzle problems increase your IQ, stave off old age or even help prevent Alzheimer’s... Talk to the experts and try ‘brain training’ exercises in our mind-gym.

Brain training has exploded in Japan, with grandparents fighting parents for the use of their children’s game consoles. But does it have what it takes to be the next sudoku over here and occupy the nation’s every spare minute?

And if it does, can it really increase your IQ as some people claim? Yulia Kovas, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, will talk about the genetic component of IQ. How much can it change? Or is it set from birth?

Some propose that brain training can go even further than just increasing IQ; they claim it can help stave off Alzheimer’s. Clive Ballard from the School of Biomedical Sciences, also at King’s, discusses the limits of this idea.

One place where brain exercises are not new is the Forget Me Not Centre in Swindon. Lynda Hughes will take us through some of the exercises she uses to help people with memory-loss problems. What can they teach us about how memory works?

You will also be able to try the as-yet unreleased Nintendo game Brain Age. Or you could have a good-old-fashioned game of chess, a scramble with a Rubik’s Cube or feed your sudoku addiction.

The brain-training gym is open all week in the Dana café to get your brain into shape while you enjoy a cup tea!

Speakers

Clive Ballard, School of Biomedical Sciences, King's College London
Lynda Hughes, Forget Me Not Centre, Victoria Hospital, Swindon
Yulia Kovas, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London
Ailsa Ogilvie, Heyday

Supported by Nintendo as part of National Brain Fitness Week.