[ ](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/opinion/08aamodt.html?em&e
x=1194670800&en=87671c1cea6447e9&ei=5087%0A)Brain training games
are fun for every fan of self-optimization. We don’t like to
play them, we like to point out how unconvincing the evidence is
that they really help your brain. Today in the New York Times,
two neuroscientists take aim at brain training. They guess that
the effectiveness of puzzles and mazes in improving the mental
function of laboratory animals may have something to do with the
impoverished environment of the lab. “Animal enrichment research
may be telling us something important not about the positive
effects of stimulation, but about reversing the negative effects
of deprivation.” Sandra Aamodt, the editor in chief of Nature
Neuroscience, and Sam Wang, a professor of molecular biology at
Princeton, do discuss one type of exercise proven to improve
cognitive performance: physical exercise. Aamodt and Wang run
down some of the reasons physical exercise is recommended for
people conce