There is a game called Think Smart Family, supposedly it strengthens and exercises your brain. But I am wondering if there are any studies that actually prove such games actually increase intelligence of the brain.

 

The game consists of various puzzles such as Tower of Hanoi. In some puzzles, some of the instructions and goal of the puzzle is unclear, such as a match stick puzzle that says "Move the 3 matches and make the top shape the same." Further impairments may occur due to fuzzy text on certain CRT monitors, as well as a repetitive music loop that drones on throughout the test. Additionally, the wii mote will shake around and you will accidentally hit the wrong answer.

 

But I am wondering if this game has any discernible increase in intelligence for people after playing it. Furthermore I am wondering if playing very abstract logic puzzles, which are very disconnected from real world application, such as Tower of Hanoi, would actually increase logic in real world STEM applications, programming, or philosophy. Furthermore I would ask whether or not this game would increase intelligence more than playing a very cerebral-intensive puzzle game such as Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or Metroid Prime 1, for example.

There is a game called Think Smart Family, supposedly it strengthens and exercises your brain. But I am wondering if there are any studies that actually prove such games actually increase intelligence of the brain.

 

The game consists of various puzzles such as Tower of Hanoi. In some puzzles, some of the instructions and goal of the puzzle is unclear, such as a match stick puzzle that says "Move the 3 matches and make the top shape the same." Further impairments may occur due to fuzzy text on certain CRT monitors, as well as a repetitive music loop that drones on throughout the test. Additionally, the wii mote will shake around and you will accidentally hit the wrong answer.

 

But I am wondering if this game has any discernible increase in intelligence for people after playing it. Furthermore I am wondering if playing very abstract logic puzzles, which are very disconnected from real world application, such as Tower of Hanoi, would actually increase logic in real world STEM applications, programming, or philosophy. Furthermore I would ask whether or not this game would increase intelligence more than playing a very cerebral-intensive puzzle game such as Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or Metroid Prime 1, for example.

It will get you more comfortable with visualizing things.

Obviously simply one game won't help much, but a series of games that help you visualize things in many different ways, will help you to visualize things mentally much better over time.

Chess for example.

I did a study and found that students who played chess in the top 30 rankings in the local area around me(actually, just my school. Sorry.) and I found every single one of them was doing at a 93% or betting inside of Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Pre-Algebra. My hypthesis(unproven, again, sorry) is that being able to visualize several moves ahead in chess helps you to be able to visualize several moves ahead inside of algebra. For me, I play chess and I noticed an increase in how well I did when I started playing heavily.

Basically, Algebra seems to be breaking down equations into a process. Chess helps you to visualize those processes, and allows you to sometimes see the answer before actually writing it out, as long as there is no complicated math involved.

For example, (4x + 2) (4x +2).

To solve that, no complicated math is needed. And in my head, each step briefly plays before changing to the next step, eventually becoming the final answer. And I've found I can usually rely on the final answer.

It becomes 16x^2 + 16x + 4.

Now maybe I'm just seeing random patterns here, but I think some games do help.

It will get you more comfortable with visualizing things.

Obviously simply one game won't help much, but a series of games that help you visualize things in many different ways, will help you to visualize things mentally much better over time.

Chess for example.

I did a study and found that students who played chess in the top 30 rankings in the local area around me(actually, just my school. Sorry.) and I found every single one of them was doing at a 93% or betting inside of Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Pre-Algebra. My hypthesis(unproven, again, sorry) is that being able to visualize several moves ahead in chess helps you to be able to visualize several moves ahead inside of algebra. For me, I play chess and I noticed an increase in how well I did when I started playing heavily.

Basically, Algebra seems to be breaking down equations into a process. Chess helps you to visualize those processes, and allows you to sometimes see the answer before actually writing it out, as long as there is no complicated math involved.

For example, (4x + 2) (4x +2).

To solve that, no complicated math is needed. And in my head, each step briefly plays before changing to the next step, eventually becoming the final answer. And I've found I can usually rely on the final answer.

It becomes 16x^2 + 16x + 4.

Now maybe I'm just seeing random patterns here, but I think some games do help.

I already aced algebra 1 and 2.

What I am looking for is to get extremely good at all manner of theoretical science and or advanced science, including college level physics, neuroscience, and biology.