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."

Nostalgia in out old age

[glassesmonkey]

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 [alzheimer.ca] 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)

Re:Nostalgia in out old age

[mabhatter654]

if you don't remember your youth then you're old you're dead already! Your brain is there to USE, if you don't use the old places too, you forget how. Like I said further down...teachers live so long because they are always revisiting the "old" places with every new class they teach.

Being alive requires going out and living...not just mindlessly working a job from 9-5.

What a crappy study.

[c.emmertfoster]

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.

And the story is on a wierd website, too. "icwales?" That's sort of like "iclondon" or "icfrance" ... ok that was a lame quip, but really. No better refrences than a one paragraph story on an obscure site? Come on.

Re:What a crappy study.

[wolf-]

Ok, so having pictures of ex girlfriends naked might also help to improve memory/recall?

I just need to tell my wife...she will...appreciate...ok maybe not.

So this means....

[dq5 studios]

So this means MAME is good for me? Sweet....

Re:Happy employees are unproductive employees

[Dot.Com.CEO]

I wasted one year of my life and career working for a dot.com. Was I happy? Yes. Was I motivated? Yes. I worked 16 hour days and missed the first 6 months of my daughter's life because of work. We had a game room, we could work as much or as little as we wanted (supposedly) and we were assured, up to the last minute, that not only everything was fine, but that a huge investment was coming in, one that would make all of us into .com millionaires.

I think I'm not the only one who not only was disappointed in

Re:Happy employees are unproductive employees

[Mattcelt]

"It's not that I'm lazy, Bob, it's that I just don't care!"

Motivated people are productive people, whether motivated by fear, happiness, pride, jealousy, or a host of other causes. Don't confuse unhappy with motivated.

Happy people, when they are productive, i.e., when they are motivated, tend to be more productive than their unhappy counterparts. This is from whence the popular belief arose. But happiness alone does not cause or preclude productivity.

Make someone too fearful that they will lost their

They also DIE sooner too!

[mabhatter654]

Notice that school teachers live a very long time being relitively poor and Doctors almost always die young! Here's your reason. I'd theorize that brains "die" from non-play just like any other organ would. You'll find no CEO's, accountants, MBA, etc in the old folks home now days...they are all getting diapers changed! Teachers spend their days around kids! They live diciplined lives, and get to "relive" youthful memories of older classes for years to come. My grandmother was 90 and could still remember names of students in her first classes [1930's] She also learned to use Word [again at 90!] Teachers [and the like] never stop learning! That is one of the keys to staying alive. Of course many /.er fit this too.

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!

Re:Happy employees are unproductive employees

[ConceptJunkie]

Happiness _does_ equate to productivity. At least for me. Sure free soda pop and doughnuts are nice. Sure a foozball table is nice. But those are just little perqs. What really makes me happy is challenging and interesting work that allows me to use my creativity and allows me to make a difference in the product I am working on. In that environment, I am extremely productive, working both smarter and harder.

The former might give a little morale boost, but without the latter, it's worthless. And anyo

Re:Happy employees are unproductive employees

[JVert]

This all started when some HR rep slept halfway through a seminar and woke up seeing happy employees working hard and playing hard.

The point of toys and comps at the workplace is that they realized they could furnish with toys and free food and be just as attractive to possible employees as other companys with no furnishings and higher salarys.

No hope for the pokemon generation

[imperator_mundi]

The study involved more than 100 men aged between 25 and 35.

...
When asked how they felt when playing the games, individuals said their main emotions were happiness, nostalgia and cheerfulness.

I also suppose that this works just for people who actually played the classics before they became classics.

Re:No hope for the pokemon generation

[Random832]

so, are you saying that _none_ of the games of the "pokemon generation" will ever become classics? who predicted, at the time, that pac-man would?

sure they will!

[mabhatter654]

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.

Studies also show...

[Bob Cat - NYMPHS]

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.

Can you imagine, it's lunchtime in New Dehli, and you eagerly go to /. to read up on 'Stuff that Matters' and you see THIS.

Actual Proof...

[chewy]

that MAME is good for you. /me proceeds to install on workbox :)

Not just pacman...

[InsaneCreator]

video games such as Pac Man and Space Invaders induced a 'positive emotional state'

Well, playing Daikatana makes me "go to my happy place".

zen and the art of pacman.

[Qender]

I guess everyone has a different way of meditating.

SDL

[August_zero]

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!

Hypnotic state

[Mostly Monkey]

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?

More importantly...

[kinnell]

What about minesweeper and solitaire?

Proof...

[sammaffei]

I just played Donkey Kong on MAME...

Now, I remember where I put my hammer.

I also found my girfriend's purse and umbrella.

My girlfriend would disagree

[(trb001)]

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

but but...

[Anonymous Coward]

What if it's a REALLY CRAPPY game that used to REALLY PISS ME OFF? Will I get amnesia?

It doesn't really surprise me...

[Dutchmaan]

..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.

One exception...

[Aardvark99]

Polybius. [slashdot.org] It has the opposite effect.

I see what they're talkin about...

[UltimaL337Star]

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...