Why brain-training games don’t work

By Art Markman |

Success is often driven by your ability to solve problems and generate creative ideas. So, it is no wonder that people are looking for ways to increase mental capacity. And lots of companies have stepped into the void to help people improve their mental fitness.

The analogy behind many of these brain-training activities is athletic training. If you want to improve your physical performance, there are exercises you can do that improve your overall fitness.

Unfortunately, the brain doesn’t seem to work the same way. There simply aren’t ways in which to train general mental capacities that will improve your performance at a variety of other tasks.

Brain-training games often give you logic puzzles, lists of things to remember, or tasks that force you to pay attention. If you play those games, you will get better at them. But you don’t get better at thinking in general.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t things you can do to improve your mental abilities, though. It just means that brain games aren’t the route to getting there.

To see why, it is important to recognize that psychologists distinguish between two kinds of intelligence: fluid and crystallized. Fluid intelligence reflects basic psychological mechanisms that influence your performance.

For example, working memory is the amount of information you can hold in mind at once. People with a high working-memory capacity are typically better at solving complex problems than people with low working-memory capacity.

These basic mechanisms are important aspects of the cognitive architecture that support good thinking. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any exercises you can do that improve them. So, brain games that aim to improve working-memory capacity do not actually affect working-memory capacity, generally. Instead, people develop good strategies to play the game itself in ways that don’t benefit thinking more broadly.

Crystallized intelligence reflects the results of your life experience. After reading this article, for example, you will know about the concept of working memory. That knowledge becomes part of your crystallized intelligence. Similarly, problem-solving skills you learned in school or on the job become part of your cognitive repertoire. Your crystallized intelligence continues to grow throughout your life. The knowledge and skills you have make you better able to address new situations.

So, you can make yourself smarter by building that crystallized intelligence. Read books on a variety of topics, listen to podcasts, and go to lectures or take classes that expand your knowledge and skills.

The more you know and can do, the better able you will be to address challenges deftly.

When tax time comes, your children can be worth a lot of money — even if you didn’t earn any income. There are two main tax credits that apply to children, and they are frequently confused. One gives a significant refundable credit simply for their existence. The second gives a refundable credit (this year) for money spent on child care in 2021.

Sadly, many families that would qualify for these refundable credits don’t earn enough to be required to file a tax return. So the credit is never claimed. If you know a low-income parent who might qualify, do them a big favor by sharing this column.

Child tax credit

This was the program that made headlines last year when, as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, it was enlarged and made refundable. As I wrote last May, the child tax credit was introduced in 1998 to give families with children a payment of $400 for each child. Over the years that number had grown, and by 2020 the amount had risen to $2,000. That year, it was only partially refundable against taxes paid.

But last spring, Congress boosted the child tax credit to $3,600 for each dependent child under the age of 6 at year-end 2021, and $3,000 for every dependent child under age 17. Plus, it became totally refundable to the filer — meaning you didn’t have to pay any taxes to qualify for the credit.

There are income limits to qualify for this refundable credit. It goes only to those who have parental income under $75,000 on a single return, or $150,000 on a joint return (or $112,500 for those filing as head of household). The credit phases out above those income levels.

Notably, this credit is not limited by the number of children claimed as dependents on a qualifying tax return.

To get the money into the hands of families faster, the government started sending out the credit in advance — in the form of monthly payments beginning July 15. Not all deserving families received the monthly credit, though, and some only received a few months of checks. As a result, many low-income families now need to file a

2021 tax return to claim the credit (or the remaining credit balance after previous monthly payouts).

An extra bonus: Here’s a reminder to those who had a baby in 2021. In addition to claiming the child tax credit (if you’re eligible), you also get to claim the $1,400 stimulus payment that was paid out early last year. It is also refundable. So if you qualify based on income, your 2021 baby may be worth a combined $5,000. File for it!

Child care tax credit

One of the challenges of COVID-19 was the lack of affordable child care. But, depending on your income, you could get a credit equal to as much as half of your child care expenses last year on the tax return you are filing now.

The American Rescue Plan Act significantly increased the amount of this now-refundable credit. So, even if you don’t have a tax liability, you can claim the credit on your 2021 return. (This credit is expanded only for year 2021, and is scheduled to return to previous levels in 2022.)

The cap on expenses eligible for the child and dependent care tax credit for 2021 is $8,000 (up from $3,000 previously) for one child or $16,000 for two or more children (up from a previous limit of $6,000).

Normally, only employment-related expenses qualify. The more a taxpayer earns, the lower the percentage of the tax credit. The 50% maximum credit starts to phase out at $125,000 for 2021, and is eliminated for any taxpayer with adjusted gross income over $438,000 in 2021.

The program also applies to dependent adults who are incapable of self-care.

One caveat: If you pay for child care through a dependent care flexible-spending account, the child care expenses you cover through that FSA cannot count toward the tax credit, since the money in that account already gets a tax benefit.

Your children are expensive, but the government is creating incentives to have them. And that’s the Savage Truth.

Terry Savage is a registered investment adviser and the author of four best-selling books. She responds to questions on her blog at TerrySavage.com.