Brain training eased anxiety a little. Attention did not improve.

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   Eight studies with 465 adults who had an anxiety disorder or high anxiety scores. Most were women, 55 to 71 in every 100 in each study.

2. 02

   What they did

   Adults did brain exercises for memory or attention, in 8 to 20 sessions of 30 to 60 minutes. The other group did a different task, such as relaxation.

3. 03

   What happened

   Anxiety symptoms dropped a little more than in the other groups. Working memory improved more, but the paper's numbers don't add up, so we can't give its size. Attention tests showed no difference between the groups.

What the review found

1. HelpedOther outcomes

   Brain exercises eased anxiety a little more than other tasks, across eight studies.

   • Action: Train attention and memory with exercisestested

   Pooled analysis of 8 studies with 465 people · vs people who did relaxation or other tasks · they rated themselves · the authors rated their certainty moderate

2. HelpedFocus

   Training working memory helped more than other tasks, across three studies.

   • Action: Train attention and memory with exercisestested

   Pooled analysis of 3 studies with 178 people · vs people who did other tasks · the authors rated their certainty moderate

3. No differenceFocus

   Attention training did not improve attention more than other tasks did.

   • Action: Train attention and memory with exercisestested

   Pooled analysis of 3 studies with 144 people · vs people who did relaxation or distraction · the authors rated their certainty low

Source