Rejuvenating Video Games: Another controversial experiment
Scientists have developed a computer game to combat brain aging
Tests conducted on volunteers aged 60 to 85 years showed that after two weeks of playing, the ability to multitask in older people reaches the level of untrained representatives of the control group of twenty-year-old subjects. Details with reference to an article by scientists in Nature (Anguera et al., Video game training enhances cognitive control in older adults) are given by Science Now (A Racing Game to Rejuvenate the Brain?).
The researchers created a game that was a racing simulator with one additional task. The player had to not only control the car using a joystick, but also press a button when a certain symbol appeared on the screen. At the same time, there were both "correct" symbols (blue circles) and those that had to be ignored on the track. Scientists have reasoned that the combination of machine control with the search for certain elements will train the brain, increasing its ability to multitask, and this, in turn, will slow down or even reverse the aging process.
To test their assumption, the experts first tested 174 volunteers aged 20 to 70 years. The participants tried to play a game called NeuroRacer by the developers, and at this moment the researchers recorded their electroencephalogram to analyze brain activity. These experiments showed that with age, the ability to solve several problems at once decreases, and linearly: this in itself was not a discovery, but allowed us to obtain data for comparison with those who actively played in old age for a long (two weeks) time.
Detailed testing of 16 subjects aged 60 to 85 years showed that the game not only increased the ability to multitask (the quality of the virtual machine control practically stopped falling when adding an additional task), but also changed the characteristic brain activity during the game. According to the researchers, the electrical oscillations in the cerebral cortex that occur when the desired objects are detected on the screen became stronger after two weeks of training. In addition, scientists conducted another series of tests six months after the completion of the training of volunteers and these tests revealed that the effect of the game is long-term.
At the same time, a number of experts who did not participate in the work (their estimates are given by Science Now) indicates that the study performed in San Francisco includes too small a number of subjects. It is also unclear to what extent the observed improvement in multitasking ability is related to general cognitive abilities and practical skills. Arthur Kramer, a professor at the University of Illinois, called the results promising, but stressed that they do not yet allow us to confidently answer such an important question as "can this method prolong active life?".
The game used in the work of scientists is rather inexpressive and imperfect against the background of modern games, where it is also required to combine driving with certain tasks. However, the researchers explain that their NeuroRacer was primarily a tool to test the hypothesis of brain training in old age, so the number of extra elements was deliberately reduced.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru05.09.2013