Good for Your Brain, Bad for Your Brain

Video war games could enhance a key element of intelligence vital to success in life, an expert has claimed.

Spending time on Facebook and solving Sudoku puzzles may have the same effect, according to psychologist Dr. Tracy Alloway.

But text messaging, tweeting on Twitter and watching YouTube were likely to weaken "working memory" -- the ability to remember information and how to use it.

At a job interview, a candidate will employ working memory to match answers to questions in the most impressive way.

Dr.  Alloway, from the University of Stirling, believes it to be far more important to success than IQ.

Her team has developed a working memory training program that greatly increased the performance of slow-learning children aged 11 to 14 . After eight weeks of "Jungle Memory" training, the children saw 10 point improvements in IQ, literacy and numeracytests.

Video games that involve planning and strategy, such as those from the Total War series, may also train working memory, Dr.  Alloway believes.

"I'm not saying they're good for socialization skills, but they make you use your working memory," she said. "You're keeping track of past actions and mapping the actions you're going to take."

But the "instant" nature of texting, Twitter and YouTube was not healthy for working memory.

"On Twitter you receive an endless stream of information, but it's also very succinct," said Dr.  Alloway. "You don't have to process that information.

"Your attention span is being reduced and you're not engaging your brain."