Mind games for adults is a bit of a misnomer, if by games you mean something to pass the time, because we adults can do so much more with mind games these days than pass the time.

Have you ever heard of neurogenesis? Neurogenesis is a term used to describe the daily growth of new neurons, which is a capacity of the human brain that no one knew about until about 10 to 15 years ago.

Have you ever heard of neuroplasticity? Neuroplasticity is the term used to describe how our brains form new connections when our brains are exposed to a new learning experience.

According to Simon Evans, Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt, Ph.D., authors of Bible of Brain Fitness, Brainfit for Life, those new connections can be formed in minutes.

But here’s the rub, those new connections must be strengthened with practice, and those new neurons must be nurtured before they migrate into the circuitry of the brain, particularly the memory circuitry, where replacement parts are needed.

How do you nourish the brain?

Well, Evans and Burghardt provide us with a model for making the brain a hospitable place for new neurons and help us reinforce the new connections between neurons that are formed when we experience a novel learning experience, which could come from a mind game for Adults.

The brain fitness model taught by Evans and Burghardt has several components; physical exercise, nutrition that includes plenty of omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants, sleep, stress management, and new learning experiences, which could include brain games for adults.

Brain fitness writers and researchers say that the best neurogenesis and neuroplastics novel learning experiences are those we experience when learning a new language or a new instrument.

When it comes to brains, I’m a firm believer that bigger is better, but I don’t have time to regularly spend learning a new language or a new instrument, so I was delighted to find research in several new books testing the efficacy of brain experiences. novel computerized learning, and that experience can take the form of a brain game for adults.

Mind games for adults can take as little as a few minutes between phone calls or clients, or up to an hour over forty days. Program developed by Michael Merzenich, Ph.D.

And research is just starting to roll in supporting the efficacy of mind games, including the IMPACT study published in April 2009, and the PNAS study first made public in 2008 or 2009.

The PNAS study assesses the impact of doing regular training on the dual n back task, which means concentrating on a computer for 1/2 hour for 19 days, and the benchmark on dual n back was an IQ test .

So does completing the dual n back adult brain game increase IQ? It does, and you can show the results to your disbelieving children, who may think that no adult brain can master the intricacies of electronic devices.

So there you have it, brain games for adults that make greater neurogenesis and neuroplasticity possible, and don’t require hours of tedious piano practice or language training.

In fact, computerized adult brain games are so cool I can’t get my 11 year old to do them, which is another point in his favor as far as this ‘old friend’ is concerned.