Professor: suggesting Brain Age helps is 'charlatanism'

by Chris Greenhough { Jan 26th 2009 at 6:00PM }

Brain Age games don't necessarily make you smarter, and it is "charlatanism" to make such a claim. Those are the conclusions drawn by one Alain Lieury, professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Rennes. The professor's findings were picked up by The Times, which loves itself a good story (from 2006).

Lieury surveyed 67 ten-year-old kids in his study, which compared the impact of Brain Age on intelligence with pencil and paper-based puzzles and going to school (in case anybody was seriously entertaining the thought of homeschooling their child with a DS).

The Times covers the precise results of the study in its article, but the long and short of it is: Brain Age won't help you raise an army of miniature geniuses and take over the free world. Boo. "The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it's fine," writes Lieury in his new book, Stimulate Your Neurones. "But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test."

Which is great and all, but is anybody terribly surprised by this?

Gallery: Brain Age 2

[Via GamePolitics]

Tags: brain-age, brain-age-2, brain-training, kawashima, training

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

atastysammich @ Jan 26th 2009 6:20PM

I dunno... I'd say Brain Age might be on to something when even the articles slamming it encourage you to use your brain and learn a new word.

Demotruk @ Jan 26th 2009 6:22PM

I read the article earlier, the Times has exaggerated it's headline, of course. The actual results do show improvement in most areas, but not memory or logic. When it says "pen and paper" it really means book of puzzles.

In general they're missing the point of the game. It's not supposed to be any more powerful than other activities, it's supposed to be a more convenient one and one that you're easily motivated to do.

Still though, Brain Training is not the best way to exercise your brain. Other DS games do the job better, and playing a wide range of games will improve a wider range of your abilities. For instance, playing first person shooters has been proven to improve hand eye co-ordination, reaction times and the like.

aj @ Jan 26th 2009 6:23PM

I have read that simple games and puzzles can, however, stimulate the elderly mind and stave off mumbling about the Korean War while you drool on yourself.

Of course, reading books and just being active helps too. But if you are both lazy and old, why not?

Tom Boucher @ Jan 26th 2009 6:26PM

I thought Brain Age was about improving older people not training minions of super nerds. I seem to remember the marketing was all about taking older folks and making them better not training kids. In fact I think it even said not to have people under 20 really use it as it wasn't targeted at that.

Zippon @ Jan 26th 2009 7:35PM

Exactamundo!

The article (and the study) missed the point entirely. The Brain Age games are about exercising a mind over 20, to restore some of its nimbleness. It's like Tai Chi for your brain.

This study is tantamount to saying, "We took 60 10-year-olds and had them perform Tai Chi, but we found that their daily running and playing was equally as good!" Oy. I'd love to see them repeat the study with 50-year-olds. THAT would be more interesting.

Others also bring up the excellent point that this is mental exercise disguised as play. It would most likely replace more passive mental pursuits rather than replace more traditional mental exercises (like hiding veggies in your candy, lol).

Matt @ Jan 26th 2009 8:15PM

If I try and get my kids a puzzle book they ignore it but they will play hours on end with Brian Age on the DS .So I would rather them play the DS than not do anything at all .

thrownaway @ Jan 26th 2009 8:19PM

The best thing it's done for me is stopped the 'I'm an idiot' feeling when confronted by adding small figures. Simple arithmetic isn't that difficult, but if it isn't something one keeps in practice on, it can take an embarrassing number of seconds to reach an answer.

I'm still never allowed to keep score when we play cards. It's for the best, really.