Brain Training Reduced Dementia Risk by 25% for Up to Two Decades, Study Finds

Starting in the 1990s, more than 2,000 older adults participated in an experiment to see if brain exercises could increase the brain’s processing speed.

The study, a four-arm randomized control trial, was called Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (commonly called the ACTIVE study). Now, a newly released study that tracked the participants over time found that those who completed eight to 10 cognitive speed training sessions, each about an hour long, were 25% less likely to be  diagnosed with dementia two decades later.  Marilyn Albert, one of the study’s authors, called the finding “astonishing.”

The study also notes: “No prior cognitive training intervention has been shown to reduce risk of ADRD (Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias) over a 20-year period.”

One potential explanation is that this form of training triggers “implicit learning,” the same automatic skill acquisition as swimming, tying a shoelace or riding a bike. “We know that implicit learning operates differently in the brain and has more long-lasting effects,” Albert said.

An online program called BrainHQ includes the same speed exercises used in the study, and one user in his 70s compared it to sit-ups.

“You can learn to ride a bike in about 10 hours of training,” and still know how to ride a bike 20 years later, even if you don’t practice in all that time, neuroscientist Henry Mahnake, CEO of BrainHQ’s parent company Posit Science told NPR, because “you will still have a bike-riding brain.”

A new study called PACT (Preventing Alzheimer’s with Cognitive Training) is currently looking into the benefits of much more training – 45 sessions over several years – and has enrolled more than 7,500 participants aged 65 or older. Early results are expected in 2028.