Category: Research

‘Brain training’ games a waste of time

22-Apr-10 14:57

According to a study released yesterday from The Medical Research Council the so-called ‘brain training' games provided by companies such as, Nintendo do not scientifically improve your IQ at all. One game claiming to improve memory, the test found would need to be played for four consecutive years in order for the user to remember just one extra digit!

The research discovered that after a six week trial of 11,500 people across the UK, none found any evidence of mental improvement. People did however get better at doing the tests, but this was due to practice rather than any actual improvement in brain power. I think that practice is actually the best way of improving memory and intelligence rather than aiming to ‘exercise' your brain. Just thinking back to when I was at school and teachers told us to read over our notes and that the best way of remembering how to do something was to practice it over and over. I think that this is how we learn from a young age to remember things, which can go on to assist us in later life.

It has been proven that by simply sitting on a computer game ‘exercising' your brain will not help you become more intelligent generally, but will help you remember how to play the game. So perhaps instead of using ‘brain training' games if people went out to learn and practice a new skill or hobby this could be more beneficial to their overall IQ. It's worth a try and you never know, practice may make your brain perfect!

Danni