Videogames help old brains!

[Mouse One]

No, really. A study by University of North Carolina researchers found that subjects age 60-77 improved in various measures of cognitive ability after two weeks of playing World of Warcraft compared to a non-gaming control group. Interestingly, the greatest improvements were with those who started with the lowest scores (on the cognition tests, not who started with the lowest level char )

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563212000143

Yeah, just one study, although the department of psychology at NC seems to be doing a fair number of similar studies as well.

http://www.gainsthroughgaming.org/

Anyway, breath of fresh air in today's media climate of "ZMOG, games make mass murders!" with poorly quoted let alone understood studies used to back up the latest Fox news hysteria.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

If we're on the subject of how video games improve our lives...
My brother got into an accident which pretty much completely crippled his right wrist.
His doctor prescribed video games as physical therapy (Call of Duty specifically).

 

[DoPo]

My brother got into an accident which pretty much completely crippled his right wrist.
His doctor prescribed video games as physical therapy (Call of Duty specifically).

[insert joke about CoD players here]

OT: Yeah, that's not really a new thing. I see the paper is from slightly less than a year and here is another thing from about a quarter year ago


And there is more stuff but I don't recall actual sources, if you take my word for it, there have been other studies done for a while now, old people in particular as well as brain in general. They aren't as well publicised as the violence (denying/confirming both). But also, it's not an automatic "it's always better to play games". Mostly, the conclusion is that it could have advantages and it could have disadvantages. Shocking, I know - it seems that video games are... the same as mostly everything else.

 

[shrekfan246]

The typo in the thread title is delightful.

Media will be media. No amount of studies proving how good games are or disproving how harmful they could be will stop hyperbole from ruling the news networks.

Still, nice to see some people are actively working to better the name of interactive entertainment. FOR SCIENCE!

 

[Mouse One]

The typo in the thread title is delightful.

Doh! Maybe I need to go grind a few more levels...