1
Can you improve processing speed?
Yes, on the trained tasks.Scores on the games themselves rise quickly with practice. Gains on close variants are common; gains on unrelated, everyday tasks are much smaller and less consistent.
What is processing speed training?
Processing speed training is practice on simple tasks done as fast as accuracy allows,such as symbol search, digit–symbol coding and choice reaction. You aim for faster responses without letting errors rise.
- Games
- 8
- Session
- 5–15 minutes
- Frequency
- 3–5× a week
- Levels
- Easy → hard, adaptive
- Cost
- Free, no account
SESSION BUILDER
How long have you got?
Intensity
Easy and medium games, ordered warm-up to finisher.Every processing speed game
8 games · 14 min if you play them all01Easy1 minMental MathSolve as many sums as you can in 60 seconds.
ANATOMY OF THE SKILL
The clock speed
Processing speed is how quickly you can do simple mental work accurately. It peaks in late adolescence and declines gently with age, and it sets the pace for reasoning: slower processing leaves less time for working memory to do its job.
A week that works
Tap a day to switch it on or off · 45 min a week3–5×sessions a weekShort and frequent beats long and rare.
10–15minutes a sessionStop while you're still sharp.
4 in 5level-up ruleMove up once you score four in five.
6 wkbefore judgingGive it six weeks before deciding.
OUTSIDE THE GAME
Where you use processing speed every day
Three everyday moments that lean on this skill, and the game that practises the same move.
THE MOMENTThe car ahead brakes suddenly and your foot is already moving.
PRACTISE IT WITHReaction TimeTHE MOMENTA pass comes your way and you choose where to play it in a split second.
PRACTISE IT WITHChoice ReactionTHE MOMENTYou scan 40 rows of a spreadsheet and catch the one typo.
PRACTISE IT WITHSymbol SearchProcessing speed training, explained
2
How long does it take to see results?
Usually two to three weeks on the games, six weeks to judge.Most people improve fastest in the first few sessions as they learn the task, then more slowly. Give it about six weeks of regular practice before deciding whether it's helping you.
3
How often should you train processing speed?
Three to five short sessions a week.Ten to fifteen focused minutes beats an occasional hour. Spread sessions out, stop while you're still sharp, and move up a level once you score four in five.
4
Does processing speed training raise IQ?
Probably not by much.Large reviews find little evidence that brain-training games raise general intelligence. Expect better performance on what you practise, and use the IQ test to measure your starting point honestly.
5
How do you measure your processing speed?
Track your levels here and take a test for a benchmark.Your training stats show the level you reach in each game over time. For a standardised reading, the full IQ test scores four domains against other takers.
Sources
Research behind this page. Our methodology- Salthouse, T. A. (1996). The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. Psychological Review, 103(3), 403–428.
- Wechsler, D. (2008). WAIS-IV Technical and Interpretive Manual. Pearson (Processing Speed Index).
- Simons, D. J., et al. (2016). Do "brain-training" programs work? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(3), 103–186.