Bejeweled Yields Cognitive Benefit In Older Adults 82
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."
Re: (Score:2)
"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 universall
Re: (Score:1)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm so sorry to hear that.
Re: (Score:2)
Eh. I'm vegan.
Has Vega [wikipedia.org] developed any habitable planets recently?
Re: (Score:2)
No worries, today everyone is equally valuable.
Re: (Score:1)
My condolences for your loss.
Helps Pattern Recognition? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
Only when you are doing it wrong.
Sounds like a "no true Scotsman" argument to me.
"Felt?" (Score:2)
They *felt* sharper? So what? Sometimes I *feel* like a dragon with a nine-foot penis. Doesn't mean I *am* one.
Re: (Score:1)
Probably with Spaceship Moscow. It just took off.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd prefer that!
Hey, feeling like a huge dragon with a 9 foot penis sure beats feeling like a geek with a ... erh ... never mind.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd suggest asking Charlie Sheen, he seems to have the same dealer.
Re: (Score:2)
No, Charlie just has the ego of a dragon with a 9 foot penis.
you've corrupted the googles! (Score:2)
imagine their disappointment at being thwarted. Delicious.
Re: (Score:2)
... and 84% of those who played GTA report feeling more badass.
Re: (Score:2)
and I feel like a thousand year old turtle talking to gnats and mayflies - does that mean I'm old?
err, 'reported feeling' (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:err, 'reported feeling' (Score:5, Funny)
95% of those surveyed, felt that playing Bejeweled left their hair smoother, shinier, and easier to manage.
Re: (Score:1)
>"47 percent of adults over 50 reported feeling 'sharper'".
In other words, no different from tossing a coin.
What a worthless "study" and an even more worthless /. posting.
Come back Cmdr Taco!
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Four out of five dentists agree.
-
Re: (Score:2)
Odd that I usually go to the fifth.
Re:err, 'reported feeling' (Score:5, Informative)
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: (Score:2)
Looking over the abstracts of some of Dr. Whitbourne's recently published works [nih.gov], 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
Re: (Score:2)
True, that's an interesting point. Perhaps the mere existence of "intellectual-seeming" games accessible to the elderly can have benefit, separate from the question of how intellectual they in fact are.
Re: (Score:1)
It's just like 'new age'/alternative medicine. People feel better; that's great, but are they better or do they just feel better? (If you want to feel better you could just take something natural like heroin, cocaine etc).
Re: (Score:2)
There is also this bit [masslive.com]:
And not so long ago there has been a similar study into the Brain Age games, which basically showed that playing Brain Age makes you better at playing Brain Age, but doesn't really transfer into other areas.
Self Reported (Score:1)
They "felt" better at things they had "practice" with, which proves nothing. Call me when they show demonstrable improvement.
placebo? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Squidward? (Score:2)
So what was the placebo in this study, twiddling your thumbs? :)
Or was it, watching Sponge-Bob for 20 minutes?
How do I delete my /. account? (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
It even has "could be" plainly in the url, which should have immediately ruled it out if anybody was actually monitoring submissions. Not as bad as the deliberately fake "nuclear leak" story but I agree with jumping the shark. Slashdot has fallen apart recently.
Phillip.
Re: (Score:2)
I always assumed he was the head troll.
What were the possible answers? (Score:1)
You mean (Score:2)
playing it for 3h per day instead of learning theoretical physics in the 3rd semester was actually good for me?
Re: (Score:2)
Product placement (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Why must it be today that I have no modpoints?
Re: (Score:2)
Why must it be today that I have no modpoints?
Apparently, for your own good and the good of the /. readership.
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Similarly, your statement only tells us what we all already know, and what is even hinted strongly at in TFA itself. Posting to inform us of this obvious truth is just karma whoring disguised as participation in a community.
Re: (Score:2)
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!!
Re: (Score:2)
Um. Really? (Score:2)
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!
Re: (Score:2)
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.
A "survey"? (Score:2)
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.)
Try dual n-back instead... (Score:2)
Here's a somewhat platform agnostic version [sourceforge.net] of the game to play with.
And... there's the Dual N-Back FAQ [gwern.net].
Re: (Score:2)
Let's not forget cognitivefun.net [cognitivefun.net]. Great free site, lots of game-like brain exercises, and sporting a clean no-nonsense design Slashdotters will love.
And we don't have to rely on reports of folks just feeling better. N-back practice has been shown to correlate with working memory gains and likely with fluid intelligence as well. Single was as good as dual in one study.
oh please (Score:1)
Completely Unsurprising (Score:1)
Peer reviewed? (Score:1)
Why people wonder (Score:2)
....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.
Imagine that (Score:1)
As a 71 year senior (Score:1)
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 worl
ANY GAME WOULD! (Score:2)
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!