Brain training games are not a clever purchase, say scientists

u Brain training computer games do not make you cleverer, according to scientists.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that they also have no effect on decision-making.

Dr Joseph Kable and Dr Caryn Lerman led the study and their results were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

They hoped commercial brain training regimes could reduce individuals’ propensity to make risky or impulsive choices.

Dr Mary Falcone, study co-author, said: “Habitual behaviours such as tobacco use and overeating contribute to preventable deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease and other public health problems.”

Dr Lerman added: “As currently available behavioural and medical treatments for these habitual behaviours are ineffective for most people, there is a critical need to develop innovative approaches to behaviour change.

“Changing the brain to change behaviour is the approach that we are taking.”

The researchers recruited two groups, each with 64 healthy young adults. One group was asked to follow a brain training regime, playing games for 30 minutes a day, five days a week for 10 weeks.

The other group followed the same schedule, but played online video games instead.

The researchers found that the training didn’t induce any changes in brain activity or decision-making during these tasks.

The participants were also asked to complete a series of cognitive tests to see if playing games had any effect on their general cognitive abilities.

While both groups showed improvement, the researchers found commercial brain training didn’t lead to any more improvement than online video games.