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PopCap Games Reveals Playing Video Games Helps Older Adults Feel SharperSep 16, 2011 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- PopCap Games announced that it and University of Massachusetts Amherst psychology researcher Susan K. Whitbourne, Ph.D., presented the results of a survey that compared the videogame playing habits of older and younger adults at this year's American Psychological Association's (APA) annual convention in Washington D.C. According to a release, the survey of more than 10,000 U.S. adults investigated the feasibility of Bejeweled Blitz as a cognitive training tool for older adults. According to Whitbourne, of those who play Bejeweled Blitz regularly, 47 percent of adults over 50 reported feeling sharper while performing other tasks and 23.9 percent of adults over 65 felt their ability to see patterns improved. Bejeweled Blitz is a social game developed by survey underwriter PopCap Games, a developer and publisher of casual video games. The survey is the first in a series to examine the cognitive value of videogame play on an older audience; most research has focused on studying the benefits of video games on children and young adults. Cognitive tasks involved in the game play of Bejeweled Blitz require rapid decision-making, conjunctive visual search skills and reaction time. Whitbourne believes that Bejeweled Blitz is a plausible platform for improving cognitive skills because it requires several of the skills that have been shown to be improved in action video games. If certain cognitive skills can be improved through action training, then perhaps those skills can also be improved through Bejeweled Blitz training. The company noted that the results were well received by fellow researchers attending the APA convention. Says Dr. Walter Boot, director of the Attention and Training Lab of the Department of Psychology at Florida Sate University, "I believe the work Dr. Whitbourne and her colleagues are doing, using Bejeweled Blitz, is both critical and exciting, and that more research like this needs to be done exploring not only the types of games that bring about cognitive benefits, but also the types of games older adults are willing to play and why. The best cognitive aging intervention in the world is useless if older adults aren't willing and able to engage in it. By investigating attitudes and perceived benefits of video game interventions, this research has the potential to discover game interventions that are both effective and enjoyable." PopCap Games is a global developer, publisher and operator of casual video games: fun, easy-to-learn, captivating games that appeal to all ages across PC, mobile, social and other platforms. ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) |