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Pac Man Nostalgia Helps Enhance Memory?
Thanks to icWales, who have a brief report revealing claims that playing classic videogames can help enhance your memory. The report reveals: "Researchers found that playing video games such as Pac Man and Space Invaders induced a 'positive emotional state' connected to a past happy memory. That in turn increased the players' focus, attention and memory." Apparently, the more oldschool the game, the better the results, since the unattributed, rather bizarre survey claims: "Games from the 1980s triggered the biggest improvement in memory, followed by games from the 1990s."
It occurs to me from this article on a bigger implication of our loving fond memories of the arcade. A lot of research on Alzheimer's suggest you let people 'live' in an earlier era in their memory. That means for us when we get old they can just put us in front of the table top asteroids and Ms. PacMan and enjoy the happiness on our faces. (Assuming carpal-tunnel hasn't rendered us gimpy)
The results seem to imply that happyness and nostagia improve memory, not the video games themselves. I mean, out of a bunch of 25-35 year old men, who isn't going to be nostagic or happy after playing some Pac Man.
... ok that was a lame quip, but really. No better refrences than a one paragraph story on an obscure site? Come on.
And the story is on a wierd website, too. "icwales?" That's sort of like "iclondon" or "icfrance"
We can neither love nor pity nor forgive. If you make a slip in handling us you die!
So this means MAME is good for me? Sweet....
It has been said numerous times that to keep your employees productive it is necessary to keep them happy. During the dot com boom of the late 90's, companies did just that. It got to the point that 'fun specialists' were making a pretty penny advising employers on ways to keep employees happy and fulfilled.
Too bad the research behind this equating of happiness and productivity never existed. In fact, anecdotal evidence shows the complete opposite. Rather than happy employees being more productive, it is clear that unhappy employees with overbearing bosses are actually more productive because they spend less time goofing off and more time actually working.
Trying to revive the outdated "Happy == Productive" lie is bound to make employees excited, but employers ought to beware of ploys like bringing in Pac Man machines just to improve the memories of employees. Employees have paper, pen, even computers to hold onto important notes, thus negating the need for better memory. And the price of bringing in the Pac Man machines is far beyond the price of the consoles. Rather, it is the price of productivity that employers will face.
Employees ought to find their happiness either in their work or outside of work. They should not be finding it in all the 'perks' that employers ought not be throwing their way anyway.
that /. will post ANYTHING when it's the middle of the night in the US, just to annoy its readers living in other time zones.
/. to read up on 'Stuff that Matters' and you see THIS.
Can you imagine, it's lunchtime in New Dehli, and you eagerly go to
The latest Slashdot meme.
that MAME is good for you. /me proceeds to install on workbox :)
video games such as Pac Man and Space Invaders induced a 'positive emotional state'
Well, playing Daikatana makes me "go to my happy place".
I guess everyone has a different way of meditating.
Something like this has been studied and documented for years: State dependent learning. It seems that it is much easier to recall information if you are in the same mental state as you were ehen you learned it. If say for example you are mildy intoxicated when you study for a history final, you will remember a significantly larger portion of the material if you are also mildy intoxicated when you take the exam.
Music as a memory aid works in a very similar way. The song will evoke an emotional state, and this combined with cue within the song can recreate "lost" memories.
With any luck, by the time I hit 65 (or whatever the retirement age will be moved up to for my generation) I will be able to charge nintendo games to Medicare!
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
I wonder if the enhanced memory can be attributed to being able to focus on a single task? Earlier games tended to be simpler to play and are more likely to have been played to the point to where the subject reacts by reflex without using advanced brain functions. I can almost see myself getting into an almost hypnotic state when playing classics I loved as a youth. Isn't it easier to remember stuff when in that state?
Chika Chik-ah... do-e ow ow.
What about minesweeper and solitaire?
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
I just played Donkey Kong on MAME...
Now, I remember where I put my hammer.
I also found my girfriend's purse and umbrella.
Political correctness is the newest form of slavery.
America is at or past the human limit of productivity...we work nearly as many hours as child labor in India...and are starting to see the same health problems eliminated in the 1950's.
As far as at-work happiness goes, you are correct! BUT...this only proves that 50-60 hour weeks are physically damaging over long periods. Play is an important part of living too. Just becuse it's not "unit producing" time doesn't mean it's wasted. [though most companies expect to throw away employees over 50 nowdays rather than change their business to be more civil] Of course, you should be doing this with your KIDS! Then you share happy memories [and lessons] with them, while making new ones for them to have. But it's kind of hard to do that when the "overbearing" boss wants 60 hours a week for food on the table! This only proves what the europeans already know about work hours...and for a "civilized" society it is apalling how much americans are required to work. This looks to prove that it is indeed criminal to make people work that much!
give it 10-15 years and the young adults then will want to remember pokemon just like we remember pumping quarters in pac-man. VH1 has just tapped a whole new market in selling "memories" back.
I'm not so sure about this study...I have a friggin MAME cabinet in my living room, but can't remember to drop off my rented movies within two weeks time. I would constantly forget about little stuff if not for my girlfriend reminding me. She thinks I'm getting the early form of alzheimers :)
--trb
What if it's a REALLY CRAPPY game that used to REALLY PISS ME OFF? Will I get amnesia?
..that games from the 80's would be more of a mental trigger. They were much more simple, repetative, and pattern oriented. ..and most like playing those games would establish more specific and stronger base neural pathways than games of today.
Games today would easily develop more complex and motion, space, and coordination oriented skills.
I'd be interested to see what parts of the brain that different games stimulate.
Polybius. It has the opposite effect.
Like I keep my tv on 24/7 and it's right next to my monitor. So if I was playing a game while that russel crowe episode of south park was on, If i see a rerun, ill somehow remember exactly how many times I TKed on De_Dust. I think I learned something like this in psychology... associative memory or something like that...