A new study has shown that World of Warcraft can help special awareness in the older generation. The study, which was carried out by North Carolina State University has shown that special awareness improved in the people aged 60 – 77 who had scored low prior to the game play. It had also shown no improvement in those who scored well prior to the game play. The participants played roughly 14 hours over the two-week period in between the testing and just these 14 hours had proven a significant increase.
“Among participants who scored well on baseline cognitive functioning tests, there was no significant improvement after playing WoW – they were already doing great,” McLaughlin says. “But we saw significant improvement in both spatial ability and focus for participants who scored low on the initial baseline tests.” Pre- and post-game testing showed no change for participants on memory.
“The people who needed it most – those who performed the worst on the initial testing – saw the most improvement,” says Dr. Jason Allaire, an associate professor of psychology at NC State and co-author of a paper on the study.
So, I know what I am going to do when I retire! What about you?
For the whole study, please visit North Carolina State University website.
