Jogging for the brain

The article in Time says

Research show that seniors who practice cognitive exercises demonstrate improved memory, and video game makers can't wait to tap into that big baby boomer market.

If I was the head of marketing for a games console or programming supplier I would be thinking exactly the same thing. I would also be thinking about the analogy of the brain to when jogging and workouts became part of mainstream society – the “use it or lose it” mentality.

Today's 55 year old was 30 when Jane Fonda’s first video was released and 20 when Jim Fix’s “The Complete Book of Running” first hit the street. If they accepted the argument then, why not recycle the same selling pitch.

There is another take on this argument that Brent Green’s blog post eloquently expresses. Dick Stroud