New study shows casual games may help improve cognitive abilities

Video games have recently proven to be useful aids in areas like rehabilitation and education. By engaging users and promoting interaction they have turned out to be better than traditional methods in some areas. Now, a new study is showing that video games can also be a useful tool for improving cognitive abilities.

The Department of Psychophysiology of the East Carolina University (US) is currently conducting a study involving people age 50 and up who get to play casual games like Bejeweled or Peggle for 30 minute periods. Their responses are measured using electroencephalography (EEG) and standardized tests to measure how fast and how accurately they can complete a number of tasks.

The subjects who played video games showed a marked improvement on their cognitive skills with an 87% increase in speed for completing a task and a 215% increase in the frequency of correctly completed tasks.

Even though the study involved only casual games, the people from the Psychophysiology Lab believe that more complex games could provide similar benefits. Casual games were chosen because they have a shorter learning curve and they generally appeal to more people.

At the moment, the study is showing very positive results and if these are conclusive, similar therapies could be used in the future to prevent mental disorders like Alzheimer’s Disease.

I had heard of the benefits of doing jigsaw puzzles or crosswords but I think it’s cool that video games provide the same benefits. Casual games are becoming increasingly popular with people of all ages, so maybe in the long run these benefits can become more widespread and the symptoms of mental illnesses are reduced in the population.

Read [Gamasutra] Also read [1Up]