In a study published in the Medical Journal of New England (USA), it was noted that adults who systematically play brain stimulating games are 63% less likely to suffer from dementia.
In another study, based at the University of Michigan (USA), it was shown that memory improved significantly in adults who paid attention to developing games every day for several weeks.
Experiments show that stimulating the brain with computer gaming programs leads to surprising results. What are the best adult developing games?
What are the games that stimulate your brain activity?
All computer game programs can be divided into 2 groups: the one in which the person plays on behalf of the hero and the one in which the person controls the process.
The first group is represented by such genres as: shooters, role-playing computer games, quests. The second group includes logic games, process simulators, simulation games, strategy.
Traditionally, the second group is considered more developing. This opinion is partly true. For example, such sensory-intellectual processes as attention and concentration are practiced by all kinds of games.
Let’s have a closer look at these games and what skills they develop.
Shooters are dynamic real-time games that train tactical thinking, improve the reaction speed and develop the skill of decision making in a stressful situation.
Role-plays are played on behalf of a specific character, endowed with unique abilities and character, require the performance of missions. They develop humanitarian-oriented people, help to awaken interest in history, mythology.
Quests also known as “Guess a riddle” and “find an artifact” in which it is necessary to follow a certain sequence in solving problems, usually discipline, help to get used to stage-by-stage solution of problems, develop logical thinking.
Racing Simulation; Control of a car, train, plane, spaceship. These computer games allow you to master the skills of driving a vehicle, provide an opportunity to practice models of behavior in difficult situations.
Strategies imply managing the virtual world, taking into account dozens of parameters and building a strategy. These games develop the ability to solve several tasks simultaneously, train analytical and strategic thinking. They also develop all cognitive functions – attention, memory, thinking, etc.
Let’s have a look at three different games.
Follow That Frog
A logical game that develops mindfulness and memory. There are a lot of similar game programs, but this one has its own charm! A person plays a green frog, which should exactly follow the route of the orange frog, jumping from one lily to the other. The number of water lilies separating the first amphibian from the second, with the course of the game increases. A person should track and remember the movement of an orange frog, and also control his frog at the same time, without making mistakes. The game is simple, but trains parallel memory and reading memory very well.
Call of Duty
Scientists of the University of Rochester (New York), studying the cognitive abilities of people, conducted the following experiment. They selected a group of young people aged 18-25 who were not keen on computer video games. They were offered a choice to play Call of Duty or The Sims. After choosing one of the games, the subjects had to play 50 hours (in total). Then the young people answered questions about various topic. The answers were evaluated according to two criteria: accuracy (accuracy) and speed of giving the answer. The results of the experiment showed that the correctness and accuracy of responses, in general, coincided in both groups, but those who played Call of Duty spent 25% less time thinking. Thus, those who were playing Call of Duty, took more correct decisions per unit of time. And this can be an important competitive advantage in those areas of activity in which tasks are limited in time.
Unreal Tournament
Perhaps Unreal Tournament poorly compares to other games in the style of action packed content, but in terms of its dynamics this shooter is one of the best. The game is designed to minimize distraction of the player from the main process. Scenario and mission are absent. All the attention of the player in Unreal Tournament is focused on pursuing other players or bots. These factors determine the specific developmental features of the game: it trains mindfulness in the perception of objects located at a distance.
All in all, it’s possible to jump to the conclusion that both shooters and strategies are pretty helpful for training your brain abilities and memory. There are games that do not require from your computer advanced characteristics, so even used computers for sale at http://www.kijiji.ca might be suitable for playing them.
