The BBC have completed a study for an upcoming episode of Bang Goes the Theory which suggests that brain training activities are no better at training your brain than browsing the internet.
“Can You Train Your Brain? – A Bang Goes The Theory Special,” which is set to air tonight on BBC One, followed 11,430 people over six weeks to determine the impact of so called “brain training” activities. Participants were split into three groups, with a third doing regular sessions designed to train reasoning, planning and problem solving skills. The second group played games designed to train short term memory and the third participated in general web browsing with no specific cognitive skills.
After all was said and done, nobody exhibited increased brain power and, at best, they’d gotten slightly better at the games they were playing.
“Statistically, there are no significant differences between the improvements seen in participants who played our brain training games, and those who just went on the internet for the same length of time,” said Dr Adrian Owen, a neuroscientist from the Medical Research Council.
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