Alzheimer's Care

Likely you have seen some variant or another of this article "Helping the Elderly Keep Their Driving Skills" talking about helping seniors keep their mind sharp.  Whole companies have cropped up like the one mentioned in this article, Posit Science, around the idea computers and software can help. 

Certainly games like these are interesting and often fun, but their claims are largely unproven.  Comments like the brain is "the most important muscle in the body" is, at best, metaphorical.  The brain is, of course, nerve tissue not muscle tissue.  "Exercising" the brain has little impact on senior memory loss brought on by Alzheimer's or other serious forms of dementia. 

Driving is one of the big safety issues with seniors and for those people who are not facing serious cognitive decline, they may find these games fun and somewhat beneficial.  Of course, physical limitations such as immobility are not impacted.  At a minimum, I would expect some gains in driving skill just from the heightened awareness.  Likely most of us could gain from that lesson.

See more on Posit at http://www.positscience.com/.