Scientific Validation

Science has shown ¹ that physical exercise, a good diet, a rich social life and regular and varied cognitive stimulation play an important role in maintaining proper cognitive health.

Many studies ^{2, 3, 4} have shown that engaging in stimulating activities throughout a lifetime helps preserve cognitive skills.

Even though we understand relatively well the underlying physiology of cognitive stimulation, the scientific and medical community still engages in measuring its effects and possible applications.

The HappyNeuron games are based on exercises used in clinical settings to stimulate the cognitive abilities of people diagnosed with cognitive impairments.

Thousands of speech therapists, occupational therapists, neuropsychologists and psychologists throughout the world are using these tools as part of their therapeutic intervention to help their patients work on these impairments.

Many independent clinical studies show very encouraging results of therapy protocols including these computerized exercises to help patient populations with very different medical conditions: Schizophrenia ⁵, Depression ⁶, MCI ⁷, Severe Mental Illness ⁸, Chronic Pain ⁹, etc.

However, despite the fact that HappyNeuron strongly supports and engages in research focused on cognitive stimulation and rehabilitation for clinical populations, no large clinical trial evaluating the impact of the brain training program as available on this website has yet been completed.

If you are interested in the ongoing research in that field, check out our site https://science.happyneuron.com/ for more information.

Our Brain Training program offers a variety of games designed to engage various cognitive abilities and offer a diverse and entertaining cognitive stimulation, as well as resources and features to help make it regular and engaging.

This training allows users to practice and develop strategies in a safe environment that can then be used for other real life situations.

IMPORTANT: Any person suffering from cognitive impairments must first and foremost see a doctor and a specialist to diagnose any condition and get guidance on the recommended treatment. HappyNeuron Brain Training program is not a medical device and cannot diagnose or treat any medical condition.

Reference

1 Mintzer J, Donovan KA, Kindy AZ, Lock SL, Chura LR, Barracca N. Lifestyle Choices and Brain Health. Front Med (Lausanne). 2019;6:204. Published 2019 Oct 4. doi:10.3389/fmed.2019.00204 link

2 Wilson RS1, Bennett DA, Bienias JL, Mendes de Leon CF, Morris MC, Evans DA. Cognitive activity and cognitive decline in a biracial community population. Neurology. 2003 Sep 23;61(6):812-6.link

3 J.Y.J. Wang, D. H.D. Zhou, J. Li, M. Zhang, J. Deng, M. Tang, C. Gao, J. Li, Y. Lian, M. Chen, Leisure activity and risk of cognitive impairment: The Chongqing aging study. Neurology Mar 2006, 66 (6) 911-913; DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000192165.99963.2a link

4 J. Verghese, A. LeValley, C. Derby, G. Kuslansky, M. Katz, C. Hall, H. Buschke, R. B. Lipton, Leisure activities and the risk of amnestic mild cognitive impairment in the elderly. Neurology Mar 2006, 66 (6) 821-827; DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000202520.68987.48 link

5 Best MW, Milanovic M, Tran T, Leung P, Jackowich R, Gauvin S, Leibovitz T, Bowie CR, Motivation and engagement during cognitive training for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Schizophr Res Cogn. 2019 May 23;19:100151. doi: 10.1016/j.scog.2019.100151. link
Pascal Vianin, Sébastien Urben, Pierre Magistretti, Pierre Marquet, Eleonora Fornari, Laure Jaugey. Increased activation in Broca's area after cognitive remediation in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Volume 221. Issue 3, 30 March 2014, pp 204-209. link
Franck, N. et al. (2013). Specific vs general cognitive remediation for schizophrenia: a multicentre randomised trial. Schizophrenia Research, 147(1), pp. 68-74. link
Bowie CR, McGurk SM, Mausbach BT, Patterson TL, Harvey PD. Combined cognitive remediation and functional skills training for schizophrenia: effects on cognition, functional competence, and real world behavior. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2012, 1-9 link
Vianin, P., Deppen, P., Croisile, B., Tarpin-Bernard, F., Sarrasin-Bruchez, P., Dukes, R., Grillon, M. Exploratory Investigation of a Customized cognitive remediation program for individuals living with schizophrenia. The Journal of Cognitive Rehabilitation, NeuroScience Publishers, Volume 28. Fall 2010, pp 11-21 link

6 Bowie CR, Gupta M, Holshausen K, Jokic R, Best, M, Milev, R. Cognitive remediation for treatment resistant depression: Effects on cognition and functioning and the role of online homework. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 2013, 201, 680-685. link

7 Combourieu Donnezan, L., Perrot, A., Belleville, S., Bloch, Fréé., Kemoun, G., Effects of simultaneous aerobic and cognitive training on executive functions, cardiovascular fitness and functional abilities in older adults with mild cognitive impairment, Mental Health and Physical Activity (2018), doi: 10.1016/j.mhpa.2018.06.001. link

8 Harris AW, Kosic T, Xu J, et al. Web-Based Cognitive Remediation Improves Supported Employment Outcomes in Severe Mental Illness: Randomized Controlled Trial. Jmir Mental Health. 2017 Sep;4(3):e30. DOI: 10.2196/mental.6982. link

9 Katharine Baker; Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis; Amit Lampit; Michael Valenzuela; Stephen Gibson; Melita Giummarra; Computerised training improves cognitive performance in chronic pain: a participant-blinded randomised active-controlled trial with remote supervision, PAIN. 159(4):644-655, APRIL 2018 link