Nintendo brain training 'no better than a pencil'
The £100 Nintendo DS games console and brain training games are no better at improving your memory than a 10p pencil and paper, it has been claimed.
Despite claims that the popular games can 'stimulate your brain and give it the workout it needs' ... French academics say this is not the case.
Tests on ten-year-olds found that doing their homework, playing scrabble or even watching a documentary on TV could boost memory ability as much if not more than using the brain training on the DS.
The boffins will now examine the claims that playing Wii Sports for 20 minutes will turn you into a tennis player of such skill you can suddenly take on Andy Murray.
Professor Lieury of the University of Rennes led the tests in which groups of children underwent a seven week DS brain training course or did puzzles with pencils and paper.
He said while the DS trained kids improved in maths ability by around 20 percent, so did those with the old school (and cheap) pencil and paper.
When it came to memory ability the pencil-and-paper group recorded a 33 per cent improvement ... the Nintendo kids were 17 percent worse.
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