Essay: Could video games cause positive change in specific brain patterns of the elderly?

A game for larger (60)
The performance of people of different age groups in NeuroRacer game showed a continuous decline in cognitive control with advancing age, but also the ability to train the brain to handle multiple tasks. (Photo: University of California)
There is something very usual to see his grandfather playing video game, right? Because maybe it should be. An experiment conducted in the United States showed that the use of a digital game can help recover a long period, some cognitive abilities of elderly people and cause a positive change in specific brain patterns. These results reinforce the possibilities of the same brain plasticity in older ages and indicate that you can use this type of feature to reduce the effects of aging.
Performing various tasks simultaneously causes interference in information processing, a challenge to our cognitive control
In general, performing several tasks simultaneously – something quite common in the world we live in today – causes interference in processing information, a challenge to our cognitive control. The study, published in Nature last week just explored this feature from a virtual game specifically developed for this purpose, the NeuroRacer. It consists of two ‘tasks’: the identification of a specific symbol on the screen, through the alternating presentation of several others, and the goal of keeping a car in the middle of a street, using a joystick.
In a first test, we were evaluated 174 participants, 20 to 79, divided by age. The response of volunteers was evaluated from the ability to complete both tasks simultaneously; the more errors, the greater the ‘cost’ cognitive simultaneity. To calibrate the test, participants first played each stage alone, which served to balance the difficulty and the challenge match for everyone. So every performance difference was only a variation in the ability to perform multiple activities and not on individual skills in each test. Reinforcing previous evidence, the results showed a linear increase in cognitive cost of carrying out joint tasks in accordance with advancing age.
Training for the brain
A second experiment met 46 adults between 60 and 85 years were divided into three groups: one has played the complete and simultaneous release of NeuroRacer at home for one hour three times a week for four weeks. Another held similar training, but only with the two game tasks independently, while a final group had no contact with the NeuroRacer. Soon after training and after an interval of six months, participants underwent further tests with the full version of the game.
The two trained groups recorded equivalent improvement in the ability to handle the tasks separately. But just who he practiced with the full game showed significant results in reducing the cognitive costs related to carrying out two tasks simultaneously – from 64% to 16% reduction in cognitive ability, a final performance better than that of young people in 20’s in his first contact with the NeuroRacer. The same group also presented evidence of improvements in other areas related to cognitive control, as sustained attention and working memory, important in day-to-day reading to cooking.
Check out a video that shows a bit more about the training process and evaluation of participants
According to the researchers, the result is not limited to the improved ability of the players in each component (observed in both cases), but reflects the brain’s learning to deal with interference generated by two simultaneous tasks. “This reinforces the idea that interference is central in the adaptation process of the brain,” explains one of the authors of the study, Joaquin Anguera, the University of California, in the United States. “Furthermore, the immersion in a challenging environment, and adaptable to large interference appears to improve performance in non-trained tasks related to the same type of cognitive mechanism.”
In addition to improving their performance in the game, the trained group with full NeuroRacer also showed increased brain activity related to cognitive control
A complementary analysis also assessed, using electroencephalograms, the neural basis for these effects. The group trained with the full NeuroRacer again was the highlight: showed significant improvement in the activity of the prefrontal cortex and the neuronal networks that connect this area of ​​the brain to the back of the body, both related to cognitive control and improvements in sustained attention.
The results show, according to the authors, an important neural modulation from cognitive training in older adults. “We observed a neuroplasticity induced by training and directly related to the role of interference caused by multitasking,” says Anguera. “Another important point is that the indices recorded after a month of training remained stable even six months after the procedure completed.”
Streamlining, temporize and cogitate
According told the Science Media Centre specialist in cognition and aging Alexandra Trelle, the University of Cambridge in the UK, the results reflect previous studies linking specific training for the elderly, specific cognitive improvement and brain changes in the corresponding areas.
“We have known for some time that ‘old monkeys learn, yes, new tricks’,” also told the Science Media Centre neurologist Emil Toescu, University of Birmingham, also in the UK. The problem, he said, is the specific – just the point that it considers most interesting study, which enhanced performance in more than one job and transferred this improvement to other cognitive areas with prolonged effect.
GTA 5
The Neuroracer, despite being described as immersive, uses a very simple interface. What could be done with games specifically designed to enhance cognitive ability that they use the most modern technologies such as GTA 5 (pictured), the ‘game’ most expensive in history and will be released soon? (Photo: disclosure)
But, as pointed out by the Anguera himself before thinking of using this kind of game against the aging effects, it is necessary to produce greater gains in daily activities and not only in specific tasks. “The NeuroRacer was created for a particular study does not serve as a panacea for cognitive problems,” he says. “But the results can help develop in the future, a therapeutic training targeted to certain groups since developed specifically and carefully.”
The results can help develop in the future, a therapeutic training targeted at certain groups, developed specifically and carefully
Toescu also argued that the results are still very preliminary and that evaluate only a band-specific brain activity – leaving aside other frequencies that may have even greater relevance to cognitive ability. He also stressed that the NeuroRacer falls far short of the graphic possibilities offered by modern games. “If the search had good results with a background of the 1980s, it would be fascinating to see what is possible with a game specially developed for this purpose, but with a background of the 21st century”, he considered.
However, perhaps the most important of the study is to strengthen the huge plastic capacity of the brain, even at advanced ages. To Trelle, this should serve as an incentive for all of us seek Him activities capable of stimulating our cognition throughout life. “The games are only an option, but there are more social alternatives, like learning a new language or playing a musical instrument, perhaps even generate more widespread benefits than very specific games,” he said.