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."

Comments

err, 'reported feeling'

[Trepidity]

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:

felt that their pattern recognition improved

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.

Re:err, 'reported feeling'

[sakdoctor]

95% of those surveyed, felt that playing Bejeweled left their hair smoother, shinier, and easier to manage.

Re:err, 'reported feeling'

[Coren22]

The feelings of the users is what is the impetus for having a study to see if it is a real effect, or just a feeling. The summary says they will be having a study, not that there has been a study.

Dr. Whitbourne intends to conduct a series of studies looking into the value of gaming for older audiences.

Re:err, 'reported feeling'

[BenVis]

Looking over the abstracts of some of Dr. Whitbourne's recently published works, it looks like Dr. Whitbourne's group is developing the hypothesis that how a person feels about aging has an impact on their psychological well-being. This might seem obvious, but put in plain language, do old people get depressed because aging causes depression, or do old people get depressed because they have a negative attitude about aging? It's actually not an obvious question. With that in mind, knowing how older adults feel about their cognitive abilities after playing games is of value.

TFA mentions the study is ongoing. A different article about the study indicates the researchers will also have participants take objective tests of cognitive abilities, so the research isn't only looking at subjective self-report.

Re:Helps Pattern Recognition?

[mr1911]

Why, isn't that often called "stereotyping", or "racism"?

Only when you are doing it wrong.

Apparently having those labels applied, even incorrectly, is so frightening that all pattern recognition be abandoned altogether. That is why the TSA gropes grandmas and babies at the airport.