Fighting dementia with a video game

That exercising memory helps delay dementia is something we have been hearing for years. Now, a group of researchers at the University of California (San Francisco, USA) has scientifically confirmed it thanks to NeuroRacer, a video game specifically designed to prevent cognitive decline due to aging.

The group of researchers led by Adam Gazzaley has created a video game capable, not only of reversing the effects of age on cognitive control, but also of making the results last longer. This is reported in the journal Nature, which presents all the scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of this video game.

Multitasking video game

NeuroRacer proposes a multitasking function, users drive a virtual car on a curvy road and, at the same time, they must press a button every time a green dot appears on the screen. It is precisely this simultaneity of actions that has neural benefits as it improves the player’s performance.

The trial was conducted with 174 volunteers between 20 and 80 years of age. Initial observations showed that those volunteers over 65 years of age who had played for several hours improved their neural connections, thus outperforming younger volunteers who were playing for the first time.

If future studies confirm the results of this trial, this type of training could even be used in the treatment of other brain disorders. There is a long way to go, but for now the results of this research represent a breakthrough in neural therapies.