Brain training games don't work, stupid

A BBC TV pop science programme has debunked the notion that brain training games make you smarter - with the help of thousands of viewers. Brain Test Britain was launched by Bang goes the Theory on BBC Lab UK last September, to find out if brain training has knock-on benefits for memory, planning and problem-solving. Some 67, …

[Anonymous Coward]

Who Cares?

Nintendo certainly don't. There are enough stupid consumers that still spend money and that's all that matters for them at the end of the day.

Another shocker:

Wii Fit does not make you fitter either...

[jake]

Whodathunkit?

"Their study found no evidence that the benefits of playing brain training games transfer to other brain skills"

You mean crossword puzzles & sudoku aren't really useful?

The mind boggles!

[William Towle]

Re: Whodathunkit?

Crosswords test the vocabulary, and have the capacity to increase its extent if you're intent on completing them; solving a Sudoku can touch on search trees and proof by contradiction (if you avoid the lowbrow newspapers that only publish the ones you can do in a few minutes).

Whether you get any transferrable skill out of that is, as the quote implies, debatable - but "aren't really useful"? As a commuter with regular time to kill by the end of the newspaper -and doubtless not the only one- I simply must beg to differ ;)

[Anonymous Coward]

Wii fit comment

I disagree with the wii fit comment - for the already fit it won't help - but for the unfit - it is quite useful - it starts to get you moving and monitors progress - all of which can help & in a fun way!!

[Lamont Cranston]

Sensi Soccer never got me a place in the world cup squad.

Can I propose a new experiment, where a group of hardcore gamers are asked to play Call Of Duty for a few weeks, then sent out to Afghanistan alongside some real soliers to see who fares better?

Might make better telly, too.