The Cognitive Benefits of Video Games

October 16, 2021

based on:

Putting Fun into Video Games for Older Adults by Anne McLaughlin, Maribeth Gandy, Jason Allaire, and Laura Whitlock

This paper shows the potential of making video games for the older population, stating that

"Studies involving younger adults have shown that video games can significantly improve a variety of mental abilities, including reasoning"

And because of this, it may be possible to have the same effects for older adults, and that recent research is starting to prove so.

during an experiment to see if playing video games affected older people's cognitive thinking they encountered a problem. The problem was stereotyping, many people believed they were too old and unable to play properly because of their age, the researchers said that this could affect performance and results

"The presence of stereotype threat can reduce memory abilities, especially when the task is difficult (Hess, Emery, & Queen, 2009)"

another observation was when older players played together, they would motivate each other to keep going and get better, this shows that video games don't necessarily have to be an unsocial event.

the research concluded that there was great potential to make games for older adults and that it very well could improve cognitive thinking, and even help slow down diseases commonly found In older adults.

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