Cognitive Benefits of Gaming

Next Generation reports on an upcoming study to be conducted by PopCap games and the Games for Health Project. The two groups will be collaborating to discover what effect, if any, gaming has on keeping minds sharp. From the article: "The results of the study, which should be available in Spring of this year, are expected to reveal the role that digital games play in keeping minds sharp, especially those of the aging. The study will not focus on the benefits of any specific game, as the overall goal is to summarize past and present research. Expert opinions or public opinion may be gathered as well."

Comments

cogs and gaming

[Anonymous Coward]

What do cogs have to do with gaming? This article is too confusing. I can't figure it out.

Getting the results they want

[Roj Blake]

I'm not trying to flame here, but this appears to be a group conducting a 'study' to get the results they want. If this were a Seattle based organization I suspect the /. response would be quite negative.

And just to show I'm not an anti-gamer I loved the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight/Jedi Academy series, the Thief series and am currently playing Age of Empires 3.

I'm just saying I don't like studies where the entire purpose is to get a pre-determined result.

Re:Getting the results they want

[HTL2001]

Any experiment has something you are seeking to prove. Of course, you can fail to prove it.

The second definition of hypothesis (from dictionary.com): Something taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation; an assumption.

Re:Getting the results they want

[Roj Blake]

So there should be no complaints when Microsoft funds a study to show that Linux has a higher TCO and the results are surprisingly on Microsofts side?

Your argument is correct if it is a scientific experiment. This is PR for the sake of PR. And like the Microsoft studies, the results will be designed, not observed.

Re:Getting the results they want

[xplenumx]

Any experiment has something you are seeking to prove. Of course, you can fail to prove it.

This is absolutely incorrect, and the type of thinking that the parent was concerned about. An experiment simply tests a hypothesis - a scientist should never be seeking to 'prove or disprove' a hypothesis.

Re:Getting the results they want

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, philosophy (Popper) of scientific discovery strongly recommends that a scientist should always try to disprove their hypothesis. This is b/c it is impossible to prove the hypothesis true for every case (assuming the number of cases is infinite or very large as is most often the case in science). Therefore, a scientist can only falsify a hypothesis and should endeavour to do so. Once a hypothesis is falsified, it should be revised or discarded.

Kuhnian philosophy suggests a strong inferential approach which suggests that a scientist can seek to 'prove' a hypothesis.

Scientific discovery is not a bunch of blind scientists running experiments to see what happens. Many (perhaps most) experiments are guided by hypotheses - not fishing expeditions.

Well, duh...

[mjhacker]

Any game, no matter what genre or style, which forces the gamer to think and act quickly is going to increase one's ability to think quicker, if not actually make the gamer more intelligent. In strategy games, they force a problem on you, and you must take a course of action to solve it. An excellent example is Chess. I doubt there are many out there that will tell you that Chess will make you dumber if you play it.

Research?

[bateleur]

From the article:
"We know good games activate minds [...] The goal of this effort is to establish a baseline of knowledge - you'd think it exists but it really doesn't."

So if I understand correctly they already know the results of their research, they just want the data to back their conclusion? Mmm... research! No wonder PopCap want to get involved.

How sharp are we talking about?

[denverradiosucks]

I have 3 younger brothers still in Jr/Sr High School (I'm 27), that would love to show the results of this study to my mother.

Re:How sharp are we talking about?

[Elad Alon]

But first they'll need you to read it to them.

Re:How sharp are we talking about?

[XXIstCenturyBoy]

Yes they should show a study to your mom that "reveal the role that digital games play in keeping minds sharp, especially those of the aging." Hopefully she doesn't take it too personnaly.

At 27, it would apply more to you ;)

/I am kidding. I'm 29 myself...

This study is aimed at the healthcare industry

[NateE]

Quotes from the news release:

The jointly funded effort will result in a publicly available knowledge-base summarizing both the research and market development activities associated with the possible use of digital games for maintaining healthy minds.

With an increasingly aging population in many developed countries the field of cognitive exercise is growing. Advocates of cognitive exercise say it is equally important for people to exercise their minds as well as their bodies. In Japan, a series of popular brain exercise games for Nintendo's DS platform have been major commercial successes.

So this study is to help healthcare professionals justify hooking up old people with a PC or perhaps handhelds to play casual games.