• Researchers  asked 36 healthy adults to imagine moving their left hand   
• Half were shown a display if they were activating the right parts of their brains
• The others were given false readings as a placebo to confirm the game’s impact
• Activity in the brains of those who weren’t given the placebo was stronger 

By TIM COLLINS FOR MAILONLINE

A bizarre brain training game that can boost mental skills in less than an hour has been discovered by scientists.

It relies on an effect called neurofeedback, where brainwaves are monitored and positive reinforcement is given when a desired brain state is reached.

In the case of this study, experts gave one group of volunteers positive feedback for imagining hand movements, while another were given incorrect positive feedback.

Participants who were told they were using the correct areas of their brains when they imagined the movements had stronger brainwaves is the corresponding area.

The technique could pave the way to create better treatments for stroke and Parkinson’s disease victims, researchers say.

Brazilian researchers found showing people real-time scans of their brain activity while completing a mental task boosted their brain power.

They asked 36 healthy adults to imagine moving their left hand while keeping it still for half an hour.

Half were shown a real-time display showing if they were activating the right parts of their brains and the others were given false readings as a placebo.

Researchers at D’Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) assessed everyone’s brain connectivity and wiring immediately before and after the exercise.

They found that for those who weren’t given the placebo, their corpus callosum – the major cerebral bridge that connects the right and left sides of the brain – was stronger.

The neural network controlling the movements of the body was also boosted.

And the training strengthened the default mode network – a brain network that is damaged after a stroke, Parkinson’s and depression.

These changes were not seen in the control group who were given the placebo.

Study author Dr Theo Marins, of IDOR, said: ‘We knew that the brain has an amazing ability to adapt itself, but we were not sure that we could observe these changes so quickly.

‘Understanding of how we can impact on brain wiring and functioning is the key to treat neurological disorders.’

Scientists have suspected Neurofeedback could be a way of regulating brain areas that have stopped working properly – such as in chronic pain and depression sufferers.

It generally involves using magnetic resonance imaging to show people their own brain activity in real time and have them gain control over it.

Study leader Dr Fernanda Tonvar Moll, president of IDOR, said: ‘We showed that the neurofeedback can be considered a powerful tool to induce brain changes at record speed.

‘Now, our goal is to develop new studies to test whether patients with neurological disorders can also benefit from it.’

The study, which was conducted in collaboration with Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Augusto Motta University, has been published in Neuroimage.