Test conducted by scientists at the request of the BBC found no benefit in online intelligence training

People playing computer games designed to develop the brain might as well be playing Super Mario, new research indicates. In a six-week study, experts found that people who play games designed to develop cognitive abilities were not smarter.


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Researchers recruited participants from viewers of the BBC science program Bang Goes the Theory ("Bang, there goes the Theory"). More than 8,600 people between 18 and 60 years have played online games designed to improve memory, reasoning and other mental skills for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week.



volunteers were compared with 2,700 people who did not play brain games, but spent surfing the web comparable time and answering general knowledge questions. All participants underwent a sort of IQ test before and after the experiment.



The researchers say that the people who did the brain training did not do any better than those who simply were online. In certain parts of the test, web surfers did better than the treneiros. The study was published in the journal Nature website.



"If you play these games for fun, great," said Adrian Owen, assistant director of Cognition unit and Brain Sciences Research Council Medical UK, lead author of the study. "But if you were expecting an improvement in IQ, our data suggest that is not the case."



Computer games available online and promoted by companies like Nintendo and supposedly improve memory, reasoning and other cognitive skills are played by millions of people worldwide, though few studies have examined how these games work.



"There is very little evidence that the skills used in these games to transfer to the real world," said Art Kramer, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Illinois. He did not take part in the study and has no ties to the companies responsible for the games.

Kramer made several criticisms will methodology used by the BBC program and said some brain games have small effects on cognitive abilities. "Learning is very specific," he said. "Unless the component you trained really exists in the real world, the transfer will be minimal."



Instead of playing brain games, people should do physical exercises, he said. Physical activity, according to Kramer, can spark new connections between neurons.



Other experts say that brain games can be useful if they are not amused. "If you put these games in a very high level, which does not have the right answer very often and it really bothers you, then it could be useful," said Philip Adey, an emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at King's College.



If people are enjoying the brain games they probably are not being challenged, he said. Adey suggests that learning a new language or a new sport is the best way to stimulate the brain. "to stimulate the intellect, you need a real challenge," he said. "Staying hope requires hard work."