paper presented at the edmedia conference june 26, 2014 tempere , finland

PAPER PRESENTED AT THE EDMEDIA CONFERENCEJUNE 26, 2014

TEMPERE, FINLAND

Cognitive Benefits of Digital Games for Older Adults

Dr. David Kaufman, ProfessorFaculty of Education

Simon Fraser [email protected]

Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?

AUTHORS OF THE FULL PAPERDavid Kaufman, Education, Simon Fraser

University, Canada, [email protected] Sauve, Education, TELUQ, University of

Quebec / SAVIE, Canada, [email protected] Renaud, Communication, UQAM, Canada,

[email protected] Duplàa, Education, University of Ottawa,

Canada, [email protected]

Simon Fraser University EdMedia June 26, 2014

mailto:[email protected]




Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?Proportion of people aged 60 and over is growing faster than any

other age group-predicted to grow to two billion worldwide by 2050Aging older adults face declining physical and cognitive

capacities, and many life changes.Successful aging – maintaining an independent, positive, healthy,

and meaningful quality of life – is critical for seniors and societies. Evidence suggests that technology can provide people with

meaningful and engaging activities that are stimulating and fun.Games can contribute to older adults’ happiness and life

satisfaction through cognitive exercise, social interaction and physical activity.

In particular, technology-based games promise many benefits to older adults, but research evidence is sparse about whether and how these can be realized.



• One of the important factors associated with successful aging in older adults is cognitive health.

• It is generally accepted that aging is associated with a decline in many cognitive processes, but the extent to which this occurs, and whether it can be slowed, or even reversed, has become of interest to researchers and scientists.

• Digital games have the ability to stimulate many cognitive processes at once.

• Five varying cognitive areas have often been considered by researchers on digital games and older adults: reaction time, attention, memory, problem solving and reasoning.



http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=2cfwS_G-_KolmM&tbnid=jebdomHgIwITpM:&ved=0CAYQjRw&url=http://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/2014-global-gaming-stats-whos-playing-what-and-why/&ei=qZ4eU-7GGsWPrgfVt4CQDA&bvm=bv.62788935,d.bmk&psig=AFQjCNFjtMFYqEtJW7J9Mlc23v3SjeLaAA&ust=1394601075598167

http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=2cfwS_G-_KolmM&tbnid=jebdomHgIwITpM:&ved=&url=http://www.google.co.in/url?sa%3Di%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26source%3Dimages%26cd%3D%26cad%3Drja%26uact%3D8%26docid%3D2cfwS_G-_KolmM%26tbnid%3DjebdomHgIwITpM:%26ved%3D0CAYQjRw%26url%3Dhttp://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/2014-global-gaming-stats-whos-playing-what-and-why/%26ei%3DqZ4eU-7GGsWPrgfVt4CQDA%26bvm%3Dbv.62788935,d.bmk%26psig%3DAFQjCNFjtMFYqEtJW7J9Mlc23v3SjeLaAA%26ust%3D1394601075598167&ei=85oeU9jhB8X9rAeVgIGQAg&bvm=bv.62788935,d.bmk&psig=AFQjCNFjtMFYqEtJW7J9Mlc23v3SjeLaAA&ust=1394601075598167

Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?Four-year SSHRC-funded research projectPrimary objective is to examine the use of digital

games to enhance older adults’ quality of life. Research questions in the overall project are:1.Can older adults’ cognitive functioning be enhanced through the use of digital games? 2.Can older adults’ social lives be enhanced through the use of digital games? 3.What are the key implementation factors for effectively using digital games with older adults?



Research Questions in this StudyThis study explored the following questions:

1. What are the patterns of digital gameplay exhibited by older adults?

2. What are the cognitive benefits of digital gameplay reported by older adults?

3. What are the barriers to digital gameplay reported by older adults?


Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?Survey of 891 older adults in Greater VancouverRecruited from assisted living and community

centres, shopping malls, and other public venues463 of these responded to the digital gameplay

section of the survey (others to non-digital games Qs)


http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=XMgQww_gkSLTyM&tbnid=Jph8bqwe65QcfM:&ved=0CAYQjRw&url=http://www.sju.edu/int/resources/mission/isju/seniorsurvey.html&ei=XKseU6PBB4ixrgegvoDQCw&bvm=bv.62788935,d.bmk&psig=AFQjCNHYwantsIGuBqLo7Qo995oifMkQlQ&ust=1394604778311764



• Used a print-based, mainly closed-ended, questionnaire• Collected background information, digital game playing

patterns and experiences, barriers, and opinions regarding social, psychological, cognitive and educational benefits.

Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?Participants’ Backgrounds (n=463)Sex: Male (39%) Female (63%) Age (yrs.): 55-64(37%) 65-74(36%)

75+(25%) Where do you live? Home (83%) Assisted-living (8%) Other(9%) Retired? Yes (80%) No (20%)


Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?Participants’ Gameplay Patterns (n=463)How many years have you been playing digital

games? >1 year (20%) 1-4 years (30%) 5-10+ years (50%) Have you played digital games in the past

month? Yes (84%) No (16%)During the past month, how many days per week

on average have you played digital games? 0 (12%) 1-4 (54%) 5-7 (34%)


Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?Participants’ Gameplay Patterns (n=463)During the past month, when you played digital

games, how many hours per day on average did you play?

1 hr or less (59%) 2-5 hrs (39%) 6-8+ hrs (2%)

Have you played social games online with other players? (e.g., bridge, chess, scrabble, Facebook games)

Yes (27%) No (73%)


Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?Greatest Reported Benefits of Playing Digital Games*Mental exercise (83%)Enjoyment (fun) (71%)Social interaction (26%)Escape from daily life (26%)Other (7%)

*Respondents could select more than one benefit



Mental exercise (83%)Enjoyment (fun) (71%) Social interaction (26%)Escape from daily life (26%)

Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?Cognitive Benefits of Digital Games% Reporting an Increase in each Cognitive SkillFocussing attention 72%Memory 69%Speed in reacting/responding 66%Problem Solving 65%Reasoning 58%

Almost zero reported a decrease. Others reported no change.



Cognitive Benefits by Digital Gameplay Skill Level Skill Level

Cognitive Skill Increase

Beginner Intermediate

Chi-squared

p-value

Focusing attention

64.7 76.7 8.61 .013

Memory 66.2 72.1 2.06 .357Reasoning 44.6 66.7 23.15 .000Problem-solving 48.4 74.6 30.51 .000Reaction speed 59.9 69.3 7.11 .029*Almost no one reported a decrease. Others stayed the same.


Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?Barriers Reported in Playing Digital Games

% Reporting each Barrier*Too complicated 21%Difficult to use controller 10%Limited/No access to technology 10%Privacy 5%Difficult to see/hear 0%

*Respondents could select morethan one barrier


Aging Well: Can Digital Games Help?ConclusionsA large and diverse group of older adults are actively playing

digital games on a regular basis. Many players report a number of cognitive benefits.There is a statistically significant positive relationship between

skill level and cognitive benefits (in 5 of 6 areas)Further data analysis is being done to investigate whether

there are particular groups or gameplay patterns that benefit more from digital games.

Experiments are being planned to investigate the effectiveness of gameplay based on objective evaluation criteria.




WoW Study

http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=HQ13g8_nAoCm6M&tbnid=ewojhdnAkfERvM:&ved=0CAYQjRw&url=http://gamesforbrains.net/page/2&ei=qZ4eU-7GGsWPrgfVt4CQDA&bvm=bv.62788935,d.bmk&psig=AFQjCNFjtMFYqEtJW7J9Mlc23v3SjeLaAA&ust=1394601075598167

http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=HQ13g8_nAoCm6M&tbnid=ewojhdnAkfERvM:&ved=0CAYQjRw&url=http://gamesforbrains.net/page/2&ei=qZ4eU-7GGsWPrgfVt4CQDA&bvm=bv.62788935,d.bmk&psig=AFQjCNFjtMFYqEtJW7J9Mlc23v3SjeLaAA&ust=1394601075598167

Bingo Study

• Seniors report Bingo as their most popular game• We will use this game to teach health promotion knowledge

and skills to seniors

ABC


Thank you to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for the financial support for this project.


THE END

http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=Gogp2-UgZSeyVM&tbnid=D1g8BQ3dqbmWOM:&ved=&url=http://www.morningview.org/category/groups/adult-6/&ei=vaseU9-dIcbZrQe54YCgCA&bvm=bv.62788935,d.bmk&psig=AFQjCNH3j3_1VtfnZGBlxea3XjJx0GRfXg&ust=1394605374205656

paper presented at the edmedia conference june 26, 2014 tempere , finland

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