Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!

I'm a 50 year old woman - and probably in the age range of people that this product is supposed to help. Like my friends, I complain of forgetting names, and other memory lapses that undermine my confidence. Brain Age is a program that touts working your brain's pre-frontal cortex - to keep your brain in good shape. The first time I did this program it said that my Brain Age was 80! After a few days I got my Brain Age down to 28. (20 is the "best" age you can get.) My 9 and 12 year old sons' first Brain Ages were also in the 80s, though it told them that players under age 20 should take the results "with a grain of salt." There are two categories of activities in Brain Age. You can choose "Brain Age Check" or "Training." If you choose "Brain Age," you first answer if you are in an environment where you can speak. Then you are given three tests chosen at random, and your Brain Age is calculated based on how well you performed on the three tests. Examples of Brain Age Check tests are: Stroop Test - This test shows you names of colors. Each name is in a different color, and you are to name the color that the word is written in. You may see the word "Blue" and it can be written in Yellow, Black, Blue or Red, and you are to say the color it is written in. (This is harder than you think!) Counting - This test asks you to count, as quickly as possible, without slurring, from 1 to 120. Connect the numbers-and-letters. In this test one screen has the letters A through M, and the numbers 1 through 13, each circled, randomly placed on the screen. Your task is to take the stylus and make one long line, connecting A with 1, then moving to B and 2, then C and 3, etc., until you end with M and 13. Word Memory. In this test you are shown 30 words on the 2 screens and given 2 minutes to memorize them. You then are given 3 minutes to write down as many as you can remember. Counting numbers. On one screen you are shown different numbers in different colors, some of the numbers may be pulsing, rotating and/or sliding. The program will ask you things like "How many blue #s?" or "How many sliding numbers?" The other part of the program is Daily Training exercises. At first not all of the exercises are available to you, more become available as you use the program. Some examples of the Daily Training activities are: Calculations X 20. You are given 20 easy calculations, like 5-2, 7X8, 6+3. You try to complete these as quickly and accurately as possible, with penalties for inaccurate answers. Calculations X100. Same as above, with 100 calculations. Low to High Number Memory. One screen flashes four to eight numbers. Then, on the other screen, you are shown spots in the same formation, and you are to tap, in order, where the lowest to highest numbers were. The screen may flash up to 8 numbers at a time. Head Count. On one screen you are shown a number of people figures. Next, a house comes down and hides them. Figures then enter and exit the house, and, after a few, you are asked how many figures are left in the house. The training exercise has you do this 5 times, it starts out very easy and gets very hard. Reading Aloud. You are timed as you read a short passage aloud. Passages are interesting, and include sections of Dracula, Jack London, the Constitution, etc. Syllable Count. You are shown a number of short phrases, like "A penny saved is a penny earned." and asked to count the number of syllables in each. There are other games, and more games become "unlocked" as you use the program. Plusses and the minuses: I like this program a lot - and I do think that it has helped my attention to detail. I'm getting better at all the activities - I can remember up to 18 words on Word Memory, when I started playing I remembered only 10. The Voice Recognition and writing recognition are better than I expected, but they are far from perfect, and that is the most frustrating thing about the program. For example, in the Stroop Test the DS never understands when I say the word "Blue" (and I am a native English speaker.) So I use 2 player files: one where I say I can speak when I do the Brain Age Check, and one where I say I can't. The age difference in the Brain Age is about 20 years. Also, many times I will write a number or a letter and the DS will think I've written a different number or letter. Many of these tasks are timed, so I am trying to write quickly, and it'll think, for example, that a "5" is a "4", or an "L" is a "C", and then I get penalized for wrong answers. (On the bright side: this is a good exercise in persevering in the face of frustration! A whole new product line idea!) Bottom Line: This game is fun, addictive, and might actually have lasting benefits. Not bad for $19.95!

Not bad, but after a while it becomes boring. You conquer the game and then it bores you. Not a bad scenario because as you age, you can always go back and play the game to test whether or not there is a decline in your cognitive skills. Nice enough game that is essential for working those brain cells!

Thinking. Analyzing. Solving Problems. Reading. Logic. These are just some of the skills that Brain Age will help you develop (or re-develop). No, it's not Resident Evil or Splinter Cell. But it is as fun and addictive; it's certainly as challenging if not more challenging, and it's a nice pallet cleanser from the plethora of pure entertainment value games that my kids and I play. Brain Age is a bit advanced at times for my grade schoolers, but the parts that they do get really help them develop the skills that they are concurrently working on in school. Big Brain Academy is a much easier (not better) alternative for younger children. There's a daily training area that gives your skills a workout. And there's a test area that challenges you to quickly and accurately work through various tasks, then provides you with a calculation of your Brain Age based on how well you did on the test. Sudoku has it's own area to train the brain on number logic. Kids reading this will NO vote me to death for saying this, but this is a great game for parents to get for their kids. It's one of the only ones (Big Brain Academy is the other) that I never take away from my own kids when they've misbehaved or simply just had too much video gaming. They never complain. One word of advice: Brain Age has a hard time recognizing an "8" if you write it the way you'd skate a figure 8; it likes it better when you draw an 8 as two circles on top of each other. Addictive fun. Buy it.

It's a good game. The thing that keeps me coming back is Sudoku. Despite being an educational game it is still surprisingly fun to play. There's no complicated controls just follow the simple directions the "professor" gives you and you're good to go. The DS is meant to be held sideways and will rest comfortably in your hands as you play. The games you will playing are relatively simple and not frustrating at all. This game is meant to stimulate your brain so that you will be able to have quick responses to relatively simple problems. The only real problem I had with it is it's ability to read your handwriting. If you have atrocious handwriting either improve or don't by this game. I consider myself to have if not good handwriting then a relatively decent one. I find that the game cannot read my numbers and sometimes mistakes the number as another. Other than that this would be a superb purchase for anyone really.

englische VERSION VON Dr. Kawashimas Gehirn Jogging - Wie fit ist ihr Gehirn? Sudoku 40 x einfach, 40 x mittel erst danach 40 x schwer mit Sudoku-Anleitung und guten Tipps Gehirnjogging 1) Alterstest: 3 verschiedene Aufgaben (bestes Alter ist 20, schlechtestes wohl 80) 2.) Training 2.1) Rechnen 20 2.2) Rechnen 100 2.3) Lesen (Ausschnitte meist Anfang von etwa 100 verschiedenen Klassikern mit Angabe des Autors und des Titels); 2.4) Merken: erst 4 Zahlen sichtbar für etwa eine halbe Sekunde; die Zahlen müssen in der richtigen Reihenfolge angetippt werden; dann immer 1 Zahl mehr bei richtiger Antwort) 2.5) Silben zählen (10 kurze Sätze) 2.6) Haus (5 Etappen; Figuren beobachten/zählen, die in ein Haus hinein gehen und teilweise wieder heraus) 2.7) Magisches Dreieck (etwa jeweils 10 kleine Rechenrätsel) 2.8) Zeit (etwa 10 kleine Rechenrätsel mit 2 Analoguhren) 2.9) Laut rechnen (50 kleine Rechenaufgaben; Spracherkennung klappt nur zu etwa 80%, daher manchmal 2 oder noch mehr Versuche) Das Spiel hat noch ein Paar Gags eingebaut wie scheinbar persönlche Tipps oder Ratschläge oder kleine Zwischenaufgaben wie ein Bild malen; bei mehreren Nutzern werden die Bilder dann verglichen; nur 3 Sterne, da Aufgaben recht leicht und nur begrenzte Abwechslung; bestes Logik-Spiel siehe andere Rezension von mir: Logik-Coach (Brainbenders) von Dr. Reiner Knizias); Das schon installierte Spiel in meinem DSi "Gehirnjogging für Zwischendurch" ist besser, da es ein tolles Pianoprogramm mit etwa 40 Liedern eingebaut hat. Die Gängelung bei den Spielen mit einer gewissen Tagesbegrenzung habe ich durch mehrfaches Umstellen des Datums umgangen!

I find it keeps me on the ball as far as numerics etc. Although I would say that practice makes perfect. Stop using it and you drop down the rankings. It doesn't make you smarter..If you can't count .. this is not going to help...but it's entertaining!

Excellent for our recent plane ride for everyone to try it out. Getting better at the Sudoku all the time.

Tutto ok

Perfecto