French Study Says Brain Training Doesn't Work

[Andy Chalk]

French Study Says Brain Training Doesn't Work

A study by a professor at the Big Brain Academy [http://www.univ-rennes1.fr/english/home/] can improve your intelligence are "charlatanism."

Professor of Clinical Psychology Alain Lieury performed a survey on a group of 67 ten-year-olds, who were split into four groups: Two groups took part in a seven-week course with the DS while the third did comparable puzzles with pencil and paper and the last group simply attended school as usual. The children were given tests in logic, mathematics, memorization and interpreting symbols both before and after the seven-week course; children who used the DS as part of the program showed a 19 percent improvement in the math tests, but so did the group doing pencil and paper puzzles, while the group that wasn't given any special training improved by 18 percent.

Similarly, the "Nintendo children" showed a ten percent improvement in logic tests, a figure matched by the pencil and paper group, while those who had no extra training improved by 20 percent. In memory tests, pencil and paper users improved by 33 percent, but the group who had undergone the DS program actually ended up performing 17 percent worse. Lieury said that helping children with homework, reading, playing Scrabble or Sudoku or even watching documentaries instead of soap operas would have as much or more benefit to mental acuity as using the DS.

The study used ten-year-old children despite the fact that brain training games are typically marketed toward older gamers because, Lieury said, "That's the age where you have the best chance of improvement. If it doesn't work on children, it won't work on adults." He also took a shot at Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, the Japanese neuroscientist behind the brain training phenomenon on the DS. "There were few positive effects and they were weak," he said. "Dr Kawashima is one of a long list of dream merchants."

Source: CVG [http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article5587314.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=1063742]


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[Dectilon]

Well, it helps with the shit the games teach you, but it'd probably be far more effective to do the same thing on paper...

 

[DamienHell]

The only reason I would buy this game is for my grandparents to keep their brains from going to mush, does it still do that?

 

[CanadianWolverine]

What this study fails to take into account though is they attempt at making the activities fun. Plus, I also kinda get off on the notion of less use of pencils and paper, just for the space saved mostly.

 

[Lukeje]

Surely it does what it says? The more you practice, the lower your 'brain age'. It doesn't proclaim that a 'brain age' has any relevence outside of the game. I don't think I'm an excellent sharpshooter in real life just 'cos I played a couple of rounds of TF2...

 

[Galletea]

I don't recall them saying they could make you smarter. It does help your quick math though.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Alas, the study doesn't really take into account the fact that ten year olds are probably going to prefer doing problems on a DS than on pen & paper. I don't care if the game claims it'll turn you into rocket scientist, if it gets people doing puzzles and thinking then it's doing more than the rest of them.

 

[Theissen]

A study of 67 children?

How is it even possible to draw any reliable facts from such a small test group?

Unless the 67 children were near-twins or selectively bred to have a close-to-similar gene pool, the difference between that many children is huge, too.

 

[Neko Niisan]

Doesn't Brain Training have a minimum brain age of like 20... That's twice as old as the kids he's testing. Also I don'r remember Nintendo saying anything about it making your smarter, just improving your memory.

I'll admit I don't really know or care what he's on about but it comes across as another puffed up lab coat blowing steam on something because its contemporary.

 

[Combined]

Alas, the study doesn't really take into account the fact that ten year olds are probably going to prefer doing problems on a DS than on pen & paper. I don't care if the game claims it'll turn you into rocket scientist, if it gets people doing puzzles and thinking then it's doing more than the rest of them.

Second.

Also, this sound's like that other French study they did. You know. The one where they determined that the French are awesome and are in fact the Master Race.

 

[MercenaryCanary]

You also could have read an earlier issue of Wired and figured that out, along with the fact that speed reading is a myth.

 

[Break]

The point of Brain Training isn't to "improve intelligence", it's supposed to prevent mental atrophy. Ten year olds have been doing Brain Training-esque problems every day for decades. It's called "school". It's marketed to adults because adults don't do these kinds of problems on a day-to-day basis.

If you performed the same test with thirty-year-olds - one group doing the game, one group doing pen-and-paper problem solving, and the other group doing nothing out of the ordinary, the first two groups would likely have a marked improvement over the third.

 

[Aardvark]

All Big Brain Academy ever did for me is display a value in Kg that represented how attractive my noggin' was to zombies. Which I can't even remember now.

 

[Echolocating]

Did Alain Lieury even play Brain Age before he conducted this study?

I cringe at the thought of how much money is wasted in universities on misguided studies.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Surely it does what it says? The more you practice, the lower your 'brain age'. It doesn't proclaim that a 'brain age' has any relevence outside of the game. I don't think I'm an excellent sharpshooter in real life just 'cos I played a couple of rounds of TF2...

I feel lied to! I thought I could fire a bushmaster :\

The point of Brain Training isn't to "improve intelligence", it's supposed to prevent mental atrophy. Ten year olds have been doing Brain Training-esque problems every day for decades. It's called "school". It's marketed to adults because adults don't do these kinds of problems on a day-to-day basis.

If you performed the same test with thirty-year-olds - one group doing the game, one group doing pen-and-paper problem solving, and the other group doing nothing out of the ordinary, the first two groups would likely have a marked improvement over the third.

Annndd this. Also the fact it makes learning fun makes it an effective learning reinforcement tool for kids, as school is about as interactive and interesting as watching a crab eat your foot. And just as painful.

 

[martingwalker]

As others have pointed out Lieury's hypothesis and conclusions are sloppy. A broader ten week Scottish study last year came to the conclusion that the Nintendo games did improve math scores and by more than 50%. So take your pick.

On the other hand, Nintendo isn't the best out there by far. For a study on a more serious tool Susanne Jaeggi and Martin Buschkuehl's study on Improving Fluid Intelligence by Training Working Memory (PNAS April 2008) recorded increases in mental agility (fluid intelligence) and short term memory of more than 40% after 19 days of focused brain training.

I was so impressed that I contacted the research team and developed a software program using the same method so that anyone can achieve these improvements at home.
Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro [http://mindsparkebrainfitnesspro.com]

Martin
www.mindsparke.com
Effective, Affordable Brain Training Software [http://mindsparkebrainfitnesspro.com]

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The one thing they're forgetting is that the DS is there in their hands.
Pencil/Paper and School are often ignored in favor of something fun, and Brain Training IS fun.

 

[A.Balthazor]

A study should compare kids using Brain Age software on the DS vs. kids vegging out to Pokemon, Dragonball Z, Naruto, or playing some mindless FPS or fighting game over and over.