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Multitasking Video Game Makes Old Brains Act Younger
Matt Richtel
When one is
confronted with the thought of video games - especially if they are of the
older age, therefore not being introduced to the video game crave of the
modern-day video-gamers – it is not often associated with productivity and
brain activity. Video games have an unfair title and reputation of being
harmful, which is to not be true to a certain extent. Brain scientists have
discovered that a simple multitasking effort of swerving a car and
simultaneously picking out road signs in a video game “can help improve the
short-term memory and long-term focus of older adults.” Impressively, adults as
old as 80 were showing drastic improvements in their cognitive activity not
only during the video game but during every day processes. This is one infinitesimal
step for technology in general, but a grand step for the future of brain
activity. A discovery like such opens door to many questions, and with
questions there will come answers. To further prove the influence of video
games on the brain performance’s of individuals, a four-year, $300,000 research
program was launched at University of California, San Francisco led by Dr. Adam
Gazzaley. They created a similar video game called “NeuroRacer,” and the
results were similar although “NeuroRacer” helped point out how difficult it
was for adults to successfully multitask. This invigorating discovery could
possibly change the way scientists view neurology and spark up new interest in
that field.
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