Sharpening the brain,.. and the pencil
Games such as Big Brain Academy on the Wii and Dr Kawa Shima's Brain Training on the DS supposedly help keep your mind sharp by putting your brain through various mental exercises, but a study by the University of Rennes, France, questions those claims.
Alain Lieury, Professor of Cognitive Psychology, conducted a seven week study of 67 ten year olds divided into four groups. Two of the groups conducted regular brain training using the Nintendo DS, the third group completed puzzles using pencils and paper, whilst the fourth group, acting as a control, didn't do any extra brain training at all. Each child was given memory, logic and maths tests at the start and end of the study to evaluate the efficacy of brain training.
Both the DS group and the pencil and paper group saw their logic scores improved by 10% by the end of the study, and both groups saw a 19% increase in maths abilities. However, there was a marked difference in the memory results. The pencil and paper group saw their scores improve by 33% whilst the DS groups saw an overall decrease in their memory scores by 17%.
Although the study group was small, it appears that a computerised brain trainer is no better than pencil and paper at sharpening the mind. However, it may be easier to get kids today to tackle the computerised puzzles than it is to get them to use old fashioned graphite, so let's not discount the value of the brain games.
21st February 2009