Video Games = Smart thinking?
Video games have been given a bad reputation. Parents trying to get their kids to stop playing and do their homework saying that playing a video is just entertainment and nothing else valuable.
However, there has been a lot of research done that proves otherwise. Video games might be the key to cognitive enhancement, strengthening an individual’s problem solving, attention, memory, and processing speed. There is a correlation between playing video games and enhancing cognition.
The Experiment
A controlled trial was conducted by Soledad Ballesteros and a few others to determine if non- violent video games enhance cognition of older adults and if it improves some aspects of cognition that decline with age.
Forty participants were recruited ranging from the ages 57 to 80 years old. First they were tested on their current mental abilities and then separated into two groups, the group and the experiment.
The experiment group attended a session of one - hour playing ten videos games from the Lumosity website. The control group did not do any video game training.
The results showed showed an improvement across the majority of the training sessions. The results in the cognitive post-test, there was enhancement in processing, reduced distractibility, and increased well-being (2014).
High Correlation
In a systematic review, that included many other research experiments, showed that practicing on video games strengthens task specific skills.
The review discussed the Willis clinic-based cognitive training results in long lasting cognition improvements (Jak, 2013). Meaning that if people start playing video games in their earlier ages, the effect could carry on with them in the older adults years. I
In the their older adults stage, those effects could impact cognitive decline and cognitive diseases. The article overall suggest that video games highly impact cognitive enhancement and robust improvement (Jak, 2013).
Lutimus Brain Games
Memory
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Rotation Matrix
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Memory Match
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3. Follow the Frog
Attention
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Feel the Beat
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Eagle Eye
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Star Search
Problem Solving
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Pirate Passage
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Pet Detective
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Masterpiece