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Bejeweled Yields Cognitive Benefit In Older Adults
donniebaseball23 writes "PopCap Games and University of Massachusetts Amherst psychology researcher Susan K. Whitbourne, Ph.D. have released the results of a survey targeting the habits of older and younger gamers. Interestingly, PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz was found to be a good cognitive training tool for older adults. Of those who play Bejeweled Blitz on a regular basis, 47 percent of adults over 50 reported feeling 'sharper' while performing other tasks, and nearly 24 percent of adults over 65 felt that their pattern recognition improved. Dr. Whitbourne intends to conduct a series of studies looking into the value of gaming for older audiences."
Pattern Recognition is good? Why, isn't that often called "stereotyping", or "racism"??
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
They *felt* sharper? So what? Sometimes I *feel* like a dragon with a nine-foot penis. Doesn't mean I *am* one.
She doesn't seem to have a version of the study itself on her website, but I certainly hope the methodology is more rigorous than this makes it sound:
I am quite sure many Bejeweled Blitz players, if asked after playing some Bejeweled Blitz if their pattern recognition had improved, would tell you "yes". But a more interesting question is whether it had, in fact, improved.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
They "felt" better at things they had "practice" with, which proves nothing. Call me when they show demonstrable improvement.
So what was the placebo in this study, twiddling your thumbs? :)
The total crap stories like this over the past few weeks has convinced me this place has jumped the shark, with a shark on a shark.
The latest Slashdot meme.
"Of those who play Bejeweled Blitz on a regular basis, 47 percent of adults over 50 reported feeling “sharper” while performing other tasks." So 53 percent of adults reported feeling less sharp while performing other tasks?
http://compsoc.man.ac.uk/~shep/
playing it for 3h per day instead of learning theoretical physics in the 3rd semester was actually good for me?
Video games help train your memory and coordination, we've known this since Mega Man. Attaching a title to this kind of obviousness is just product placement disguised as science.
So what was the placebo in this study, twiddling your thumbs? :)
Or was it, watching Sponge-Bob for 20 minutes?
I just felt a terrible disturbance in the googles, like thousands of furries cried out in joy and started flocking to slashdot.
imagine their disappointment at being thwarted. Delicious.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
If you want to play games to improve you cognitive abilities, play ones designed by neuroscientists.
For example, Posit Science has evidence that their games increase cognition. They are used in clinical settings to mitigate dementia, to combat schizophrenia, and to help recovery from traumatice brain injury.
One the fun meter, they're about a 3. On the "now where did I leave my car keys" meter, they're more like an 8.
As opposed to WOW:
fun meter: 11
"now where did I leave my car keys" meter: what keys? I have a car? what day is this again? Ooh, new quest!!
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
Let's say this is true, that playing Bejeweled improves cognitive function in older adults.
Come on. It's Be-freakin'-jeweled. It's not exactly up there with calculating an integral or writing a SQL query. If anything, what this tells me is that most people are rock stupid and a simple matching game is enough to exercise and stimulate neural pathways in their brains. You want cognitive stimulation? Teach yourself complex analysis, or learn how to compose a concerto, or even (gasp!) learn Javascript!
Call me when it's something remotely scientific. Until then, this isn't any more promising than Brain Age.
(I find Bejeweled and its many, many clones thoroughly uninteresting. Peggle is alright, though.)
Eh. I'm vegan.
How about dual N-back training instead?
Here's a somewhat platform agnostic version of the game to play with.
And... there's the Dual N-Back FAQ.
Playing Tetris helps me stack moving vans and shopping bags. But put enough of these games together and maybe they help with enough kinds of pattern analysis to actually improve more complex tasks.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
yeah, and 96% of college professors believe they are above average teachers. asking people to self-report is not terribly accurate. Completely meaningless preliminary impression. Go to the real world and test improved (or unimproved) performance on memory tasks, although even that would not be what we really care about, which would be fending off memory decline and descent into Alzheimer's and the like, not able to recognize family or care for one's self.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
The preceding comment is my own, and in no way construes an opinon of the Emperor of Mankind.
Eh. I'm vegan.
Has Vega developed any habitable planets recently?
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
From what I understand, having old people learn ANY new task will help their brains keep working well. I know the speech therapist my grandmother sees uses a lot of computer games for this purpose. This isn't to say exercise isn't important too, but you need to do something regularly with your brain. New things are better than well-honed tasks.
It was also obvious that the earth was flat, there was an ocean in the sky, magic existed, and that we clung to the ground because there's a concrete up and down and things fall down by their nature. They were obvious until someone decided to study obvious things, and found out that we were totally wrong. Obvious things tend to either be that way because they're true, or because they fall into a particular blindspot in human perception. There's no way of knowing which it's going to be, for sure, without objective study of it. That said, this particular study sounds like absolute shit. Probably absolute shit done to raise money for a better study, but still.
Everything will be taken away from you.
$690 for the "full" package, which is actually only two of the three programs? I can see why people aren't flocking to try it.
Everything will be taken away from you.
This is as opposed to the BBC and Dr. Adrian Owen's study that actually *Tested* people's abilities after using a brain-training game for several weeks and discovered that whilst you might get better at that game, it doesn't grant some sort of mental boost. When I get in the car in the morning and drive to work, I feel sharper when I arrive because I've been concentrating on the drive and it's got my brain up to speed. Does that mean that driving yields cognitive benefits?
"There are three schools of magic..."
No worries, today everyone is equally valuable.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
My condolences for your loss.
....if psychology is even a science.
A 'scientific' survey that's measuring whether "feel sharper" or think they did better at something?
Um, all you're measuring is confidence levels, and/or the placebo effect. There's no data there about whether games actually DO anything.
-Styopa
Using your brain a bit increase cognitive function. Who knew right?
I am still in IT. I do programming (C, C++, QT) and find that one does not lose ability to reason. What one loses is scratchpad memory. That is, ability to remember 4+ things at a time.
It is by repetition that the learning embeds itself in my persistent memory. This natural phenomenon of poor scratchpad memory storage for seniors is a reason that many of us choose retirement. I am programming at an office, because staying home would lead to a big downer. I am not ready to go to McD's and solve the worlds problems with the other bench politicians, or go to religious institution for early morning prayers so as to socialize and keep busy.
I still have a life.
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
Any game that is based on doing this at a much faster pace slowly over time, will increase the person's dexterity and awareness and even cognitive conditioning for anticipating the next move to align yourself to be well positioned. ...you do not have to be old aged, or young, and it can be any game not just bejeweled.
I think they posted this story cuz it was a boring day, and raining probably where they were!
"That is absolutely not true. All of the nutrients humans need can be found it plants. You just need to eat the right plants. You are correct that you cannot just take meat out of your diet, you need to replace it with other plant-based foods. "
It absolutely is true. The plants that contain the necessary nutrients are almost unversally semi-toxic to humans. There are a LOT of people out there who can`t tolerate the toxins. Veggies + eggs, dairy, and fish is the closest to pacifist that anyone can universally safely go. You need to at least eat eggs, dairy, and some fish to safely avoid the toxic elements that are abundant in the plants you are talking about.
Massive amounts of Soy are in almost every single product that claims to be a meat replacement, and a quick google search will find you dozens of papers published from many seperate sources. In some cases even pro-vegetarian sources that are trying to find ways to avoid the stuff.
I understand that some asian peoples have been much closer to herbivores than anyone of european descent for a long time and as such can nearly live on a vegan diet safely. The truth of the matter is that if you`re not descended from one of those peoples then you most likely don`t have the genetic gumption to digest some of the things that they do and you shouldn`t try.
If you knew what was in our meat, how it was handled, you would run screaming from it. I prefer wild game, it's untouched by all of the antibiotics and steroids and God only knows what else. But not everyone can hunt, be picky about your meat, look for free range meat. Cutting down on meat isn't a bad idea. I had stomach problems for a long time in my 30s. I was eating antacids constantly. I then went full vegan for a year and my stomach problems all cleared up. I could drink pecante sauce (hot sauce), the hot kind out of the jar like it was a drink at the end of that year. If I would look at anything spicy, the sight alone would send my stomach acids churning like a volcano, before that. Now and then I have to cut out the black pepper out of my diet or my asshole will murder me. Seriously, if you have irritable bowels that burn and keep burning, cut out the black pepper.
Chiropractics work great. I worked when I was younger as a carpet layer. And I would wreck my back lifting big rolls of carpet. My boss was also a layer and his knees were killing him. The doctors wanted to do surgery on his knees. He instead went to a talented chiropractor and walked out of the office with his crutches over his shoulders instead of on them. I went when my back got wrecked, and it fixed me right up. It's all about talent with those guys, you have to find the right one. Some are worthless and a waste of time and money.
An MD is a gateway doctor. You discuss problems with them and they help you get to specialists. If you get an idiot one, or one who is getting kickbacks to write scrips, you are going to get loaded up on on prescriptions that you probably don't need. Also, be a participant in your own health care. Be informed, monitor your own BP and blood sugars, take care of your body at least as good as you do your car. Research any drug you are prescribed and test for potential organ damage. I was taking a prescription once that would have wrecked my liver if I hadn't had my liver checked. It was starting to damage it when I went and got tested, thankfully I caught it and changed to something else for my ailment.
Lastly, talk extensively with your doctor. Communicate with him, don't just set there and think he is a mind reader or omnipotent. Make a list if you have to, or take your spouse with you if you can stand them being in the room with you while talking to a doctor. If they care an iota about you, there is a chance they will remember or notice something that you fail to.
Take the Red Pill.
Universally? Really? My wife would beg to differ considering she has anaphylactic allergies to eggs, dairy, and fish. I don't think there's any diet that will really work out universally.
I left out an almost in there somewhere. There are exceptions to every rule. That one ^^ works out nutritionally but of course doesn't take into consideration those that would likely have just died as children a mere 200 years ago.