NEW YORK: Scientists believe they have moved closer to proving that playing computer games can make you smarter.
Claims have long been made that “brain training” tools, such as video games requiring the use of memory, can boost educational achievement and fight off dementia.
Today a conference of 1,500 leading neuroscientists was being told that growing scientific links had been found proving their effectiveness.
The UK’s Medical Research Council undertook tests on children aged eight to 11 to boost their “working memory” — where the brain holds information for brief periods. The children used their home computers to take part in 20 training sessions, each lasting about 30 minutes and featuring eight games.
The team was investigating whether it was possible to train a child’s memory. Lead researcher Duncan Astle said: “We know that differences in working memory during childhood are incredibly strong predictors of educational progress. We hope that by better understanding how and why cognitive abilities are altered by training, we can better harness its wider benefits.”
One game required the children to remember the location of asteroids that flashed in sequence across the screen. At the end of the trial, the children had to click on the asteroids in order…