Playing videogames can prevent and even reverse deteriorating brain
functions such as memory, reasoning and visual processing, according to a
study released Wednesday.
The University of Iowa study of hundreds of
people age 50 and older found that those who played a videogame were
able to improve a range of cognitive skills, and reverse up to seven
years of age-related declines.
"We know that we can stop this
decline and actually restore cognitive processing speed to people," said
Fredric Wolinsky, a University of Iowa professor of public health and
lead author of the paper published in the journal PLOS One.
"So,
if we know that, shouldn't we be helping people? It's fairly easy, and
older folks can go get the training game and play it."
The study
is the latest in a series of research projects examining why people, as
they age, lose "executive function" of the brain, which is needed for
memory, attention, perception and problem solving.
Wolinsky and
colleagues separated 681 generally healthy patients in Iowa into four
groups. Each of those was split into segments with people 50 to 64 years
of age and those over age 65.
One group was given computerized
crossword puzzles, while three other groups were asked to play a
videogame called "Road Tour," which revolves around identifying a type
of vehicle displayed fleetingly on a license plate.
Participants
were asked to re-identify the vehicle type and match it with a road sign
displayed from a circular array of possibilities.
The player must
succeed at least three out of every four tries to advance to the next
level, which speeds up the vehicle identification and adds more
distractions.
"The game starts off with an assessment to determine
your current speed of processing. Whatever it is, the training can help
you get about 70 percent faster," Wolinsky said.
The groups that
played the game at least 10 hours, either at home or in a lab at the
university, gained at least three years of cognitive improvement when
tested after one year.
A group that got four additional hours of
training with the game did even better, improving their cognitive
abilities by four years, according to the study.
"We not only prevented the decline (in cognitive abilities), we actually sped them up," Wolinsky said.
The key appeared to lie in improving the brain's processing speed, which can also widen one's field of view.
"As
we get older, our visual field collapses on us," Wolinsky explained.
"We get tunnel vision. It's a normal functioning of aging. This helps to
explain why most accidents happen at intersections because older folks
are looking straight ahead and are less aware of peripherals."
The study builds on research begun in the 1990s on efforts to improve memory, reasoning and visual processing speed.
The
researchers found those who played "Road Tour" scored far better than
the crossword puzzle group in functions such as concentration,
nimbleness with shifting from one mental task to another and the speed
at which new information is processed.
The improvement ranged from 1.5 years to nearly seven years in cognitive improvement, the study found.
"It's
the 'use it or lose it' phenomenon," Wolinsky said. "Age-related
cognitive decline is real, it's happening and it starts earlier and then
continues steadily. The good news is we can do something about it."
Nvidia Releases Project G-Assist AI Gaming Assistant That Runs on GeForce RTX GPUs27 March 2025
Search
![Gadgets 360 With Technical Guruji: Ask TG [ March 22, 2025]](https://c.ndtvimg.com/2024-12/5s52e4k_-ask-tg_640x480_14_December_24.jpg?downsize=180:*)
