maniac from downloading all of them, getting a sidekick named Pinky, and taking over the

停止下載這些遊戲、結交一個名叫Pinky的伙伴(譯註：Pinky取自於"Pinky and the Brain"卡通)，並且風靡

world? As it turns out… Brain games.

全世界？答案是....腦力遊戲。

Hello minecraft enthusiasts, Julian here for DNews. Computer-based cognitive-training

"當個創世神"狂熱者你好，這裡是DNews的Julian. 在應用程式市集裡，

software, or brain games, are a growing market with over 10 thousand in the app store. They

電腦認知輔助軟體或腦力遊戲，以超過1萬個的市占率成長。這些程式保證

promise boosted problem-solving abilities that will be long lasting. They claim to help

可以長時間增進人們危機處理的能力，它們主張可以幫助

sustain your memory in your twilight years. Some even say they can make you good at math!

晚年的你仍保有記憶力，有些甚至宣稱可以增進你的數學能力！

All in exchange for few minutes of play a day.

你只要每天花幾分鐘就可以獲得這些改善。

But nearly 70 scientists have signed an open letter from the Stanford Center for Longevity

但將近70位來自史丹福長壽中心的科學家簽屬一份公開信

saying they’re not so sure. The letter explains that playing these brain games does make you

上面寫著這些改善都不是真的。信中解釋，玩這些腦力遊戲的確可以讓你在

better at something; playing brain games. The same way that playing a lot of flappy

某方面更強：玩腦力遊戲，這跟玩憤怒鳥一樣(譯註：新版的憤怒鳥)，玩越多次

bird makes you better at unbridled rage! But getting better at a very specific task doesn’t

越讓你肆無忌憚的發怒！在某項特定的任務上進步並不代表

translate to broad cognitive improvements.

你改善了認知能力。

The letter also explains that when players get better at a game, usually it’s because

信上也解釋說，當玩家在某個遊戲中上手，通常是因為

they’ve developed a better strategy, and I can attest firsthand to that. One of my

他們發展了更好的策略，而我在這邊可以直接證明這個理論。其中一個

favorite “brain games” involves combining numbered tiles to get the highest score. I

我最愛的"腦力遊戲"包含合併數字磚塊來拿到高分，

only got that damn 2048 tile when I changed up my strategy, not by playing so much my

當我轉換策略之後，才得到2048，並不是因為玩很多次

planning and spatial reasoning improved.

讓我的規劃和空間推理得到改善。

But surely playing these games can’t hurt right? Well the letter goes on to explain

但我很確定玩這些遊戲不會傷身體，對吧？之後信上繼續解釋

that the time spent playing these games could be better used doing things known to promote

我們玩這些遊戲的時間可以花費在做其他事情來促進

a healthy brain. Things like reading, exercise, or being sociable. So the opportunity cost

一個健康的頭腦。例如：閱讀、運動、或社交。所以玩一個重複性質遊戲

of playing a repetitive game with narrow benefits may make them not worth your time.

的機會成本，你獲得的少數利益並不值得你花時間在這上面。

If you’d like to learn about more myths about your brain, like the oft-quoted stat

如果你想要多知道一些神奇大腦的資訊，就拿一個經常被引用的統計說

that we use 10% of it, Anthony has a video on that here.

我們只運用大腦的10%而已，Anthony 在這邊有一部影片在闡述這主題。

How are you making your brain healthier? What do you do to get it jump-started? Let us know

你如何讓你的頭腦更靈活？你需要做什麼事情來啟動它？請在底下留言

in the comments, and I’ll see you next time on DNews

讓我們知道，我們下次見。