my optimistic answer to the question of whether brain training is worth it would be "we just don't know." But the actual answer may very well be "no."
That's a real shame.
They work in some sense, but the benefits only have a limited range of application. If you were to train for memorizing numbers for example, you could gain the ability to deal with 10, 20 digit numbers, or even more. It could help you with mental arithmetic, it may help you memorize dates, phone numbers or addresses; but it wouldn't improve your memory in general. If you wanted to memorize names you'd have to work at memorizing names, if you wanted to retain more from reading books you'd have to put effort into read books. And even where it would help; if you wanted to get good at mental arithmetic or any particular thing, you'd get more benefits from practicing that particular skill than by practicing something else that may have some helpful side effects.
Brain training games could help you with some things, but not as much as actually practicing the things you want to improve. Are they worth doing? If you have fun doing them, they're not a bad hobby. In general I wouldn't say their really more beneficial than any other form of mental stimulation though (puzzles, board games, video games, etc.).
At least talking about their weaknesses could eventually lead to better brain training games. I think this is just the early stage of them as an idea. A lot of promise they don't really live up to, that becomes known, then (hopefully) improvement.
Yeah, we do know you can develop your brain through mental activity; in a similar way to how you develop your muscles through weight training. Even knowing physical exorcise can improve muscle function, you wouldn't do bench presses to train for a race. You might supplement your training routine with some leg exorcises, but you would want to understand everything in the context of the goals you're trying to achieve.
While I think we can develop better brain training exorcises, I don't think developing artificial drills is the most important part. Understanding how the brain develops and responds to the demands placed upon it will involve some far reaching consequences.
You could develop some computer games to help with things like mental concentration, spatial reasoning, numeric reasoning and so on. But you'd also want to incorporate anything relevant into the actual lessons and study habits taught to the students.
If nothing else, the understanding that you can build your brain like a muscle should provide encouragement for those struggling with things they feel they can't do.
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