"Brain" video games no better than pen and paper

Nintendo has been making headlines for years with the bold claim that games like Brain Age can stave off dementia, make kids smarter, and generally improve memory. And while those claims may have a little merit, a new study says that the brain-teasing video games are probably no better than good-old pencil and paper versions.

Nintendo has claimed that games like these can make you "two to three times better in tests of memory" and that "the more you use the brain in a challenging way, the better it can work." But a professor from the UK's University of Rennes says that's not exactly the case. Professor Alain Lieury tested 10-year-olds with both Nintendo handhelds and pencil-and-paper puzzles that had kids doing math sums and simple logic games. In nearly all cases, the kids doing the pencil tests showed better improvement in formal tests that came later:

"[The Nintendo group] did do 19 per cent better in mathematics -- but so did the pencil-and-paper group, while the fourth group [which received no outside training aside from regular school classes] did 18 per cent better. When it came to memorizing, the pencil-and-paper group recorded a 33 per cent improvement, while the Nintendo children were 17 per cent worse. In logic tests the Nintendo children registered a 10 per cent improvement, as did the pencil-and-paper group. The children who had no specific training improved 20 per cent."

Of course, Lieury's research focused only on children, not adults and senior citizens, where the effects may be different. It also neglects one key point about the value of brain games: Because of their portable nature, video games are often easier for players to pick up at a moment's notice, rather than, say, having to track down a crossword or a soduko puzzle in hard copy format. And even more importantly: Video games are fun -- since many people find even the simpler Nintendo DS titles more engaging than pencil and paper puzzles, they're more likely to play them.