Creaocity vs brain training apps
Brain trainers drill memory, speed, and attention. Creaocity trains idea generation. The difference matters, because it's where the evidence on transfer diverges.
The short answer
Most brain training apps drill narrow cognitive functions — working memory, reaction speed, pattern matching. The persistent criticism is that people mainly get better at the games rather than at anything outside them. Creaocity trains divergent thinking with open-ended exercises that have no single right answer, which is the same mode of thinking real creative work demands.
Side by side
| Creaocity | brain training apps | |
|---|---|---|
| What's trained | Idea generation, connection-making, reframing | Memory, processing speed, attention |
| Type of task | Open-ended, many valid answers | Closed, one correct answer |
| Success looks like | More and better options in real work | A higher score on the exercise |
| Ties to your work | Focus sessions run against your real projects | Usually self-contained games |
| Research base | Creativity training meta-analyses | Contested evidence on far transfer |
When brain training apps is the better choice
If you want to work on a specific cognitive function — say you're recovering from an injury, or a clinician has recommended targeted attention work — a dedicated brain training tool is designed for that and Creaocity is not.
When Creaocity is the better choice
If the thing you want to improve is the quality of what you think of at work, brain training is aiming at the wrong target. Creativity training has a stronger record of transferring to real-world performance, because the exercises resemble the actual task.
Can you use both?
You can, though they aim at genuinely different things. If your time is limited, we'd argue creativity training earns the slot: it targets the skill that shows up directly in the work you're judged on.
Try Creaocity for yourself.
Creaocity is in private beta on iPhone. Leave your email and we'll send an invite as soon as a spot opens up.