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Video games help over sixties memories

Maybe playstation should introduce a grey model as a recent study conducted by the psychology department at the University of Illinois in America finds that over-60 seniors who play strategy-based video games can improve their cognitive function.

Researchers found that improvements were not specific to the dexterity skills learned from gaming, but seem to be across-the-board increases.

The game chosen for the study was Rise of Nations, which gives users the opportunity to build a society including cities, infrastructure and decide how they must feed and employ people. They create all aspects of society including merchants, educators, food growers, distributors, as well as military forces for defending their nation.

The study of 40 adults, half of which received 23.5 hours of training in the games software, with the other half receiving no training. Assessments taken before and after the video game training on a variety of tests designed to "measure executive control functions" were compared. These included the ability to switch tasks, short-term memory, reasoning skills and working memory.

The results showed that the adults with training showed notable improvements in performance. They were better at switching between tasks as compared to the group who received no-training.

Their working memory was also significantly improved, as were reasoning abilities.

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