ShAARP Session: Observations from AARP

Want to stay brain healthy? Our friends on the Brain Health page of AARP.org offer 50 ways to stay healthy between the ears. A number of the recommendations involve feeding your noodle Omega 3s (I'm looking at you, walnuts!). One recommendation involves playing video games. According to a new study, one game in particular, Tetris, may be particularly conducive to good brain health.

Researchers at the Mind Research Network today announced the findings of a scientific study that used brain imaging and Tetris to investigate whether practice makes the brain efficient because it increases gray matter. Over a three-month period, adolescent girls practiced Tetris, a computer game requiring a combination of cognitive skills. The girls who practiced showed greater brain efficiency, consistent with earlier studies. Compared to controls, the girls that practiced also had a thicker cortex, but not in the same brain areas where efficiency occurred.