Is playing Nintendo brain age games any better at improving your brain than say a pencil and paper? A recent article in the Times Online website claims that the pencil and paper is just as good. They base this claim on results of a study done on a group of ten year olds.
A 10p pencil is just as good as a £100 Nintendo at stimulating the memory, according to a study that dismisses the DS Lite’s claims to boost the brain.
Professor Lieury said that helping one’s children with their homework, reading, playing Scrabble or Su Doku or watching documentaries instead of soap operas matched or beat the console.
Alvaro Fernandez over at Sharp Brains wrote a great response to this Times article. He points out the many inaccuracies found in the article. He also pointed out that our brains need novelty, variety and challenge in order to stay fit. These things depend greatly of course on who we are and what we do. A crossword puzzle might be something new and challenging for one person, but not for another. The same can be said about a brain game like the ds Nintendo brain age game. So when it comes to brain training, the key is variety, novelty and level of mental challenge it provides you specifically. This is the same whether the tool being used is a pencil, paper or a brain game.
So, will playing Nintendo Brain Age Games do you any good? Well, I guess that depends on who you are and what you do. 
Resources:
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
