Edutainment Games Revealed To Be Useless For Getting Smarter
A new study involving a survey of ten year old children suggests that games such as Brain Training and Brain Academy don’t actually improve your intelligence. Alan Lieury, a professor at the University of Rennes in France, said that: “The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it’s fine, but it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test.” Charlatanism, folks.
During the experiment, the kids were asked to perform a few cognitive functions like completing logic tests and memorizing lists of words. The researchers compared the results of children who practiced using games on the Nintendo DS versus those are practiced with standard pencil and paper exercises. In the memory exercise, the kids using the Nintendo DS were as high as 17 percent more effective overall after utilizing the DS applications.
As to why the experiments elected to use kids instead of adults, professor Lieury states that “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.”
We’re not convinced. Everyone knows that playing video games turns your brain into an enormous, throbbing vessel of infinite knowledge.
Tags: Game Industry, News