Video Games Can be Beneficial to Elderly's Memory and Attention Spans

Brain scientists have discovered that simple video games can help older people significantly with short-term memory and long-term focus, the New York Times reported.

The game the researchers had their test subjects play was a virtual driving game in which the user avoided road hazards while simultaneously picking out road signs. The researchers said participants as old as 80 were showing neurological signs of a 20-year-old.

The study, published Thursday in the journal Nature, is a significant discovery in how to strengthen an older person's brain. The improvements in cognitive performance among the test participants were not just limited to the game, but after they stopped playing as well.

Not involved in the study, Earl K. Miller, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the findings are "a very big deal," because they prove "you can take older people who aren't functioning well and make them cognitively younger through this training."

To prove the video game had a lasting effect on its subjects, the researchers were able to show a change in brain wave activity. With this kind of evidence, brain scientists will be able to pinpoint the specific aspects of the brain responsible of lack of memory and attentiveness.

"We know we can rewire the brain, but the challenge is how to do it properly," lead researcher of a different study Daphne Bavelier said. "We're in the primitive age of brain training."

The current research, led by University of California Neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley, developed a game called NeuroRacer. The game's objective is to drive a car while identifying signs deemed relevant and ignoring those that were considered irrelevant.

The study proved how difficult it was to multitask successfully. Despite encouraging results for the elderly participants, Gazzaley noted too much multitasking can harm a person's attentiveness by dividing their attention too much. Similarly, too much technology and video game exposure can cause short attention and focus spans in younger people.

"There's a big leap between what we did here and the real world," Gazzaley said. "We transferred the benefit from inside the game to different cognitive abilities."