To keep their mental faculties intact, older people should take up video gaming. Research in the US has shown that playing fast-paced multi-tasking games boosts the cognitive abilities of older adults – and the effect is long-lasting. For the study, volunteers aged between 60 and 80 were asked to play a car-racing game that involved navigating a track while also identifying road signs. At first, their driving skills fell by 64% on average when the signs appeared, whereas people in their 20s who were new to the game saw only a 26% drop. But after playing regularly, the older group achieved better scores than untrained youngsters, and also performed better than before in tests of short-term memory. “This shows you can make people cognitively younger through this training,” said neuro-scientist Earl K. Miller, of the Massachusetts Instituteof Technology, who was not affiliated with the study. (New York Times)
The conclusion probably reached by Epicurus, were he alive today:
BORING!
I doubt the advice will be taken by many people. There are better things to do with ones life, activities that are challenging and interesting. Epicurus might say, “were he alive, ” I have enough problems with computers already. I need to do something which doesn’t involve them”. He wanted us to enjoy our lives.
“For the study, volunteers aged between 60 and 80 were asked to play a car-racing game that involved navigating a track while also identifying road signs.”
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I wonder if one has to be a little cognitively impaired to volunteer for watching a toy car-racing game.