Do you misplace your stuff or regularly forget about your appointments? Is it very difficult to remember the names of people around you? Do you feel like your memory is slowly deteriorating? If so, then you certainly must have considered those brain games that will increase your memory power. Brain training games have sold in millions around the world. Do you think that brain training will make you smarter? Think again!
BBC conducted a six week online study of over 11,430 participants to find out whether these games actually hold any water. There were three groups of participants:
- The first group undertook basic reasoning, planning and problem-solving activities.
- The second group completed more complex exercises of memory, attention, math and visual-spatial processing.
- The third group was the control group who were asked to use the Internet to research answers to trivia questions.
After the sixth week, each and every group was given a battery of benchmark cognitive-assessment tests which were designed to check the participant's mental health. The result was shocking!
Neither of the three study groups showed any significant improvement in the mental skills. None of the brain-training tasks transferred into improvements in any other mental abilities.
The researchers concluded that brain-boosting games make you more proficient in exactly what you're being trained to do in the game. But improvement does not translate beyond anything other than that specific test.
Another set of researchers from France's Rennes University conducted a similar study on ten year-old children and they also came to the same conclusion that brain training games provide no more benefits in terms of improving mental speed or accuracy.
So does that spell a death knell for all these games? Certainly not!
If you enjoy playing these games, then you should continue to do so. But if you are under the illusion that these games are scientifically proven to keep your mind healthy, then you need to think again. Brain training may play a very small role in helping you stay sharp. It can't hurt and there is really no downside.
