The effects of video game training on the cognitive functioning of older adults: A community-based randomized controlled trial

Context: Using video games may enhance older adults' cognitive skills, including executive function, processing speed, and spatial ability. Objective: We examined the impact of video game training on the cognitive functioning of community-dwelling adults aged 65 or older and tested the hypotheses that larger training effects would be uncovered for practiced measures and that the employed time-compressed approach would reveal effects comparable to those reported in prior studies on this approach. Methods: Thirty-five participants from four Senior Centers located in Los Angeles County, California completed the study. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group partaking in 15 h of supervised video game training over five weeks or to a control group completing an assessment battery before and after a five-week period. Results: After statistically controlling for pretest performance and performance on the Memory Alteration Test, we found significant group differences regarding brief syllable count (p = .001, d = 1.28) and arithmetic assessments (p = .003, d = 1.10), as well as marginally significant differences on the Stroop Interference Test (p = .02, d = 0.89). We also found larger effects among practiced outcome variables (d = 0.72) than non-practiced outcome variables (d = 0.03); the effects were comparable to those reported in time-extended inter vention studies (d = 0.35 and 0.36, respectively). Conclusions and implications: Results suggest that playing an easily accessible video game in older age can enhance cognitive functioning, especially in areas directly tied to the video gaming activities.