Brain Training Games May Not Help

Several popular games lure in users, saying that by using them, they can help train their minds and possibly lower their brain age.

However, a new study in “Nature” says that the games in question may not offer as a big a result as promised.

The study is the largest of its kind, say scientists from England’s Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and the Alzheimer’s Society U.K. They said in a Tuesday press briefing that brain-training games, used by millions, may not increase general brain power on other tasks or increase IQ.

“Participants did get better at games they practiced. The more they trained, the better they got. But there was still no translation to any general improvement in cognitive function,” said lead author Adrian Owen, assistant director of Medical Research Council.

The online experiment was sponsored by the BBC and involved more than 11,000 people between the ages of 18 and 60. They were split into three groups, including two groups that played different brain-training games that are similar to commercially available games, and a control group that was asked to go online and find answers to questions about topics such as music.

Participants trained for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week, for up to six weeks, Owen said. All took standard cognitive assessment tests at the start and finish of the study. While players increased their skills the more they played a specific game, that improvement didn’t transfer to other activities or to a higher score on intelligence tests, said Owen and colleagues.

Duke psychiatrist and Alzheimer’s expert Murali Doraiswamy said it’s the best study done to date and a good reality check. “There was so much hype surrounding brain games,” he said.

But it’s not a death knell for gaming, Doraiswamy said. “I still think brain games offer tremendous potential for helping people with conditions such as ADHD and learning disabilities, but this study puts the burden of proof now on game manufacturers to show that they really offer meaningful benefits.”

Study shortcomings include the fact that it didn’t focus on the aging population, a group targeted by brain-game makers, experts said.

And it did not look at benefits of more intense training, said Alvaro Fernandez, CEO and co-founder of Sharp Brains, a San Francisco market research firm that specializes in cognitive science. “This study shows random brain exercise doesn’t transfer, but it does not deny that transfer can work if a person engages in more intense and targeted brain-training,” Fernandez said.