Summary:
The authors conducted a study involving 32 participants, all of whom were elderly individuals that volunteered to participate in the study. This study took place in Miyagi prefecture, Japan from March to April 2010. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of brain training, particularly video games, on the elderly through a double blind experiment.
The participants were split into to different groups, which played a different game (Brain Age or Tetris). The games were played for five days a week, for four weeks. Each of the five weekdays, the participants played for 15 minutes; the Brain Age participants recorded both their title and the score they received while the Tetris group recorded just their score. Participants in the Brain Age groups participated in a number of games that were both simple to preform as well as activated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The Tetris groups was used as a control group, which looked largely at the positive effect that playing a game had compared to a game that used and stimulated various parts of the brain.
The four cognitive functions that were measured fell under four different categories; global cognitive status, executive function, attention, and processing speed. A number of cognitive tests were applied to the participants to measure the various levels of cognition both prior and following the four weeks of engaging in activities.
The study found that the scores for the games improved from the initial test to the final test in both groups. The results of this study further support previous research that indicates the application of games increases the cognitive abilities of elderly individuals. Therefore, there is a positive correlation between the playing of brain games and the cognitive function of elderly individuals.
Critique:
This study demonstrates the effectiveness of brain training. particularly in elderly individuals. The study was effective in the sense that a number of individuals were sampled, and they were randomly placed into two different groups, one of which was a control group. This provided a base of information in which data from playing mind games and just playing electronic video games and allowed the researchers to compare the two elements.
This is relevant to the intelligence community because it presents a different mindset for increasing cognition level, which potentially provides a different perspective on techniques and tools to use in the workplace to increase cognition levels.
Source:
Nouchi, R., Taki, Y., Takeuchi, H., Hashizume, H., Akitsuki, Y., Shigemune, Y., Sekiguchi, A., Kotozaki, Y., Tsukiura, T., Yomogida, Y., & Kawashima, R. (2012). Brain training game improves executive functions and processing speed in the elderly: A randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE, 7(1), 1-9. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f895ac4a-8a3c-4692-9582-bed455513110%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=101
The authors conducted a study involving 32 participants, all of whom were elderly individuals that volunteered to participate in the study. This study took place in Miyagi prefecture, Japan from March to April 2010. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of brain training, particularly video games, on the elderly through a double blind experiment.
The participants were split into to different groups, which played a different game (Brain Age or Tetris). The games were played for five days a week, for four weeks. Each of the five weekdays, the participants played for 15 minutes; the Brain Age participants recorded both their title and the score they received while the Tetris group recorded just their score. Participants in the Brain Age groups participated in a number of games that were both simple to preform as well as activated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The Tetris groups was used as a control group, which looked largely at the positive effect that playing a game had compared to a game that used and stimulated various parts of the brain.
The four cognitive functions that were measured fell under four different categories; global cognitive status, executive function, attention, and processing speed. A number of cognitive tests were applied to the participants to measure the various levels of cognition both prior and following the four weeks of engaging in activities.
The study found that the scores for the games improved from the initial test to the final test in both groups. The results of this study further support previous research that indicates the application of games increases the cognitive abilities of elderly individuals. Therefore, there is a positive correlation between the playing of brain games and the cognitive function of elderly individuals.
Critique:
This study demonstrates the effectiveness of brain training. particularly in elderly individuals. The study was effective in the sense that a number of individuals were sampled, and they were randomly placed into two different groups, one of which was a control group. This provided a base of information in which data from playing mind games and just playing electronic video games and allowed the researchers to compare the two elements.
This is relevant to the intelligence community because it presents a different mindset for increasing cognition level, which potentially provides a different perspective on techniques and tools to use in the workplace to increase cognition levels.
Source:
Nouchi, R., Taki, Y., Takeuchi, H., Hashizume, H., Akitsuki, Y., Shigemune, Y., Sekiguchi, A., Kotozaki, Y., Tsukiura, T., Yomogida, Y., & Kawashima, R. (2012). Brain training game improves executive functions and processing speed in the elderly: A randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE, 7(1), 1-9. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f895ac4a-8a3c-4692-9582-bed455513110%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=101
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