"When Stephen Weber saw an ad seeking participants to help determine whether online games could improve brain function it was well a nobrainer.    The Drexel senior would get paid for what sounded to him like playing Nintendo. Maybe it could even help him remedy his weakness in math he thought.    So he signed up for a University of Pennsylvania study on the effects of Lumosity on brain activity and decisionmaking behavior.    Theres much more at stake here than the fortunes of an industry whose revenue is expected to hit  billion a year by . Or whether Weber can do math more easily in his head than using a calculator.    Studies on brain games have offered mixed results. Some are promising but others indicate the games offer little more than recreation.    Theres some evidence that brain games can improve cognitive functions says Caryn Lerman professor of psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine and deputy director of Penns Abramson Cancer Center.    But the more important question she says is can we change the brain to change behavior    Lerman is one of two principal investigators in the  million study financed by the National Cancer Institute. She and her coinvestigator assistant psychology professor Joseph Kable say the institute wants to see whether brain circuits that are active when we display restraint can be stimulated by brain games.    In other words could brain games help with healthy behaviors such as proper diet and avoiding smoking  which explains the institutes interest.    The trial involves  adults ages  to  the range when adopting healthy behaviors does the most good. All are given a functional brain MRI to test areas such as working memory sustained inhibition and response inhibition.    Half the subjects are then asked to play Lumosity a popular brain game five times a week for  minutes. The other are given free video games not designed to stimulate the brain. A second brain MRI then follows.    Our theory Lerman says is that if you activate these higher brain networks that are involved in executive control the brain will assert more topdown control over lower regions of the brain that drive people to these gratifying behaviors like unhealthy eating and smoking.    Answers are expected in a year or less.    Based on extensive research Lumositys website states the game improves memory attention processing speed and problemsolving skills so you can feel more confident in your abilities.    A consensus statement last year by  cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists found such claims highly questionable.    The group assembled by the Stanford Center on Longevity and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin stated Claims promoting brain games are frequently exaggerated and at times misleading.    Practice a specific skill enough and you will get better at it the group said. But that doesnt mean general and lasting improvements of mind and brain.    A Lumosity official asked that questions be submitted by email but then declined to respond to a request for independent studies supporting the companys claims.    Arthur F. Kramer director of the Beckman Institute for Science and Technology at the University of Illinois was a signer of the consensus statement. He says that after decades of studies there is no evidence brief interventions like brain games translate into lasting effects in the real world.    What does work he says is physical exercise such as running and walking.    Jason Chein principal investigator at the Neurocognition Lab at Temple University is more optimistic. A study using two groups of  Temple students in  found memory training on a computerized program designed by the lab not only made the students better at playing the game but also appeared to enhance discipline and reading comprehension.    Had he been asked Chein said he would not have signed the consensus statement. Its too negative and Im not sure it really reflects the scientific consensus.    Still if computerized brain games are proved to work he said youd have to figure out why for whom and under what circumstances. Theres favorable evidence but we have a lot of investigation to do.    Joseph Santos a Drexel University sophomore in Lermans study says since playing Lumosity he feels my memory is improving. I remember things I used to forget. Ive been doing somewhat better on exams. . . . My reactions are a little bit faster.    Researchers say its common for test subjects to perceive improvements even if they arent measurable. Weber the Drexel senior in the study wasnt sure whether the brain games had made him any sharper.    But neither Weber nor Santos will know for sure because research subjects generally dont get their individual results.    Dawn MechanicHamilton clinical director of the Cognitive Fitness Program at the University of Pennsylvania says she has used a commercial brain game Brain HQ in her work with adults with mild cognitive impairment and has found it helpful in combination with classwork and individual coaching. But she doesnt see it as a magic bullet.    If youre going to spend time doing other things that are cognitively challenging she says such as taking music lessons or learning a language then you shouldnt replace it with a computerized program.    On the other hand she said brain games are likely better for you than a few hours of TV watching  but even thats not clear.    We just dont know a lot of stuff we need to she said.    An April report from the Institute of Medicine puts brain games fairly low on the ladder of recommended ways to improve cognition or maintain abilities.    Kramer says the entire field is far too complex for any one definitive trial. Walter R. Boot an assistant professor of psychology at Florida State University estimates it may be a decade before psychologists can know for sure whether brain games can be effective and if so in what ways and for which populations.    Lerman hopes to bring the final answer a bit closer partly through using MRI scans to measure brain function before and after the subjects have played Lumosity or standard video games.    We know what parts of the brain and what circuits light up when people are doing these exercises Lerman says.    What we havent tested is whether a program of  weeks changes the brain in a way thats sustainable and helps people change their behaviors.    RX FOR YOUR BRAIN    According to the Institute of Medicine the jury is still out on whether brain games improve cognitive health for people trying to stave off normal agerelated declines.    In a recent report Cognitive Aging Progress in Understanding and Opportunities for Action the institute analyzed the best available evidence and came up with this prescription for    cognitive health    What Helps    Exercise.    Staying socially and intellectually active.    Healthy diet.    Getting good sleep.    Keeping your heart healthy.    What Hurts    Depression.    Hearing and vision loss.    Some medications including antihistamines.    Stress.    Air pollution.    Buyer Beware    Brain games."