Will Ur Windows 7 Computer Games Help Make U Smarter?

Published: 02/14/11, 4:20 PM / Last Update: 02/14/11, 4:28 PM
Tel Aviv Study: Computer Games and Memory Improvement


by Hillel Fendel

A study carried out at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center shows that certain computer games improve cognitive capacity better than others.

The results of the study, which examined 155 subjects aged between 61 and 75, have been published in the latest edition of Neuro-epidemiology Journal. The study was overseen by Prof. Nir Giladi, MD, of the Center’s Department of Neurology.

The purpose of the study was to check the oft-stated claim that cognitive training can result in cognitive gains in healthy older adults – and specifically, whether personalized computerized cognitive training provides greater benefits than those obtained by playing conventional computer games.

For a three-month period, subjects were assigned to either a personalized, computerized cognitive training or to a computer games group. They engaged in three 20-minute computer sessions each week. Cognitive performance was assessed before and after the three months by a neuropsychological assessment battery.

The assessments found that both groups improved in cognitive performance – but in the personalized cognitive training group, the improvement was significant in all eight cognitive domains, while improvement in the computer games group was significant in only 4-6 domains

The researchers stated that further studies are needed to evaluate the ecological validity of these findings.

Prof. Giladi stated, “The research shows that computer exercises improve cognitive performance, apparently on the basis of exercises that require problem solving, decision making, providing speedy and correct responses, dealing with variable spatial data, [and more].”

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Totally agree with the study results. It's pretty clear that the more we tax our brains, the better our brains work. This is important information for all of us, but particularly for older adults who want to retain as much clear thinking ability as they can, for as long as they can!

The most noticeable improvement I've seen in personal brain performance comes from helping here in SevenForums.

In 1 1/2 years time, I've completely lost a nagging loss of vocabulary recall which had me trying to grasp words I'd once learned but no longer could reach in my mind. After a year doing this online brain exercise the words are there if/when I need them.

Now if I could only solve the increasing perpendicularity of some thought oranges.