14 DAY TRIAL // A recent investigation carried out by researchers led by neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley of the University of California, San Francisco has revealed that gaming benefits the brain.
More precisely, it can make life easier for older people whose cognitive skills are beginning to decline.
Writing in the journal Nature, the scientists explain that, after asking 46 volunteers between the ages of 60 and 85 to regularly play a game dubbed NeuroRacer for four weeks, they found that this activity improved their ability to multitask in everyday life.
Besides, they say that this improvement in their cognitive skills did not fade away all that easily.
On the contrary, despite their not playing the game for roughly six months, the volunteers still multitasked more effectively than they did before being introduced to NeuroRacer.
Talking to the press, 65-year-old Ann Linsey admitted that, prior to agreeing to take part in this series of experiments, she had trouble concentrating and was easily distracted. NeuroRacer helped her overcome these issues.
“As you get older, it seems harder to do more things at once. I was frustrated because I felt I was losing my faculties. Now I’ve learned how to focus my attention,” the volunteer reportedly said.
The scientists claim that Ann Linsey and others like her started feeling better due to the fact that the game boosted their working memory and their sustained attention.
Interestingly enough, none of these cognitive skills was specifically targeted by NeuroRacer.
“NeuroRacer doesn’t demand too much of those particular abilities – so it appears that the multitasking challenge may put pressure on the entire cognitive control system, raising the level of all of its components,” researcher Adam Gazzaley commented on these findings.
NeuroRacer players are required to steer a car along a fairly winding road that also travels over numerous hills using nothing but their left thumb. Signs of different shapes and colors occasionally pop up at the side of the road.
Whenever one such sign is a specific shape and color, the players are supposed to shoot it down using one of their right hand's fingers.