Cooperative Study Sheds Light on Value and Potential Applications of 'Casual'
Computer- and Videogames for Cognitive Exercise
SEATTLE and PORTLAND, Maine, March 21 /PRNewswire/ -- PopCap Games(R), the
leading developer and publisher of casual games, and The Games for Health
Project today released their first summary findings of literature review of
research and market development activities associated with the possible use of
digital games for maintaining healthy minds. The full research findings are
being presented today as part of the Serious Games Summit track at the Game
Developer's Conference being held in San Jose, California this week.
"We have reviewed a large base of literature, and what we've found is
that, while still in the early stages of scientific understanding, there is
growing consensus that defined cognitive exercise can play a critical role in
healthy aging. As part of that role, it seems clear that puzzle games,
strategy games, and games which aren't as spatially oriented can play a
significant role in that effort," said Ben Sawyer, co-founder and director of
the Games for Health Project.
"However, equally important is that the research we've seen while pointing
toward this outcome does not yet have a definitive answer regarding how
cognitive exercise works physiologically," Sawyer continued. "Nor have we
found absolute consensus on what types of games and mental exercises are best,
or minimum thresholds. While there is good basic consensus emerging, we're
probably a decade from the depth of understanding and widespread consensus we
have about cardio-vascular exercise, for example. However, as this awareness
and understanding becomes more refined and widespread, and as specific
strategies are being formed, videogames are playing and will continue to play
an increasing role. What is exciting is that we're really just at the early
stage of what clearly can be a vital role played by so-called 'casual games'
in the area of cognitive exercise and health."
"While we haven't previously developed casual games with cognitive health
as a goal, we look forward to working closely with the Games For Health team
to engage the research community to identify specific puzzle- and other
problem-solving activities that could comprise all or part of the game-play in
future products that we develop," said Jason Kapalka, co-founder and chief
creative officer at PopCap Games.
With an increasingly aging population in many developed countries, the
field of cognitive exercise is growing. Advocates of cognitive exercise say it
is equally important for people to exercise their minds as well as their
bodies. In Japan, a series of popular brain exercise games for Nintendo's DS
platform have been major commercial successes. The first of these games will
debut in the U.S. this year and will join several companies offering mental
workout products -- currently primarily available in the form of workbooks and
flashcards.
"The basics of the work presented at the Game Developers Conference today
by the Games for Health Team is very promising," Sawyer said. "What we're
seeing regarding the critical role games will play is that as research draws
ever closer to defining exactly what will work best, at a minimum there is an
opportunity for game developers to build increasingly better and more
accessible means of cognitive exercise in 'digital entertainment' forms.
Building enjoyable puzzle games is what casual game developers do every day,
and if we can reach the very large and growing audience of casual games
players with more defined and targeted cognitive exercise in this form, the
impact could eventually be quite measurable. Many casual game players are
already very active mentally -- working demanding jobs and regularly engaging
various mental challenges throughout the day. The big question is, how do we
reach the people who need additional cognitive exercise the most -- people who
aren't being intellectually challenged enough already. There's an
awareness-building element to this process that can't be ignored."
Summary Research
Since its launch in January the project has cataloged a wealth of research
papers and major media stories covering the state of cognitive exercise. The
research has shown that studies of people who maintain healthy cognitive loads
(e.g. playing chess, doing crosswords) appear to have lower incidence of
dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, and other cognitive ailments. Importantly two
other risk factors included social activity and traditional physical exercise.
"It's not just about working out your mind" said Darius Kazemi, co-lead
researcher at Games For Health on the project, "you need to get up and move,
and be social as well."
Key summary findings to date include:
* There is a growing body of consensus based on research that indicates
that the mind and memory can be kept healthier and 'sharper' by deliberate
mental exercise.
* While there is evidence from population studies as to a link between
mental activity and lower incidence of dementia/Alzhiemer's/senility etc., it
is not certain what it is about mental activity that wards off the biophysical
issues related to these ailments. There are neuro-regenerative properties of
mental exercise being found but whether this is allowing the brain to ward off
"brain plaque" or to operate better despite its onset is still to be
determined.
* It is not clearly understood if people who report lower cognitive,
social, and physical activity aren't already succumbing to issues of aging in
some studies. Further isolations are needed and more longitudinal studies to
improve understanding. Interestingly, videogame activity of current
generations may start manifest in next-generation studies, but to date there
is no major study which identifies and quantifies specific benefits from
videogame playing.
* Intellectual activities seem particularly "protective"; people who use
leisure time for mind-challenging hobbies were about two and a half times less
likely to develop Alzheimer's in one study conducted by Chicago's Rush
Institute for Healthy Aging. For example, regular crossword puzzle solving
equated to a 47% reduction in the likelihood of developing dementia. Not
surprisingly, television watching is not protective and may even be a risk
factor for Alzheimer's disease, and writing and taking part in group
discussions seemed to offer no protection against memory-robbing conditions
such as Alzheimer's disease.
* There is no absolute measurement that exists for cognitive exercise
regimens, as not all activities seem to be equally effective in reducing the
risk of dementia and other mentally debilitating ailments in all studies.
Subjects who often played board games, read, played an instrument or did
crossword puzzles were less likely to develop dementia than people who said
they engaged in those activities only rarely.
* A five-year pushback of Alzhiemer's cases across the world would result
in a reduction of incidence of the disease in half.
* The market is moving forward just on the research to date despite no
widespread consensus. It is likely that brain fitness will be a $100 million
market (or larger) in the next decade if the research grows, validates, and
develops a consensus regimen.
Next Steps
The Games for Health Project will be moving to further phases of this work
over the next two months. This will include interviews with leading
researchers, further literature review, and a final assemblage of the
knowledgebase. A version of the initial presentation is now available on the
Web at http://www.gamesforhealth.org/
About The Games For Health Project
Games for Health is a project produced by The Serious Games Initiative
(http://www.seriousgames.org), a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
effort that applies games and game technologies to a range of public and
private policy, leadership, and management issues. The Project is funded by
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The Initiative founded Games For Health to develop a community and best
practices platform for games being built for health care applications. To date
the project has brought together researchers, medical professionals, and game
developers to share information about the impact games and game technologies
can have on health care and policy. This includes an effort to catalog the
current use of games in health care. For more information about Games for
Health, see http://www.gamesforhealth.org.
About PopCap(R)
PopCap Games (http://www.popcap.com) is the leading provider of casual games in
the world. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000 by three
friends from the online games industry, and has grown tremendously in the past
five years. PopCap's games have been downloaded more than 175 million times,
and its flagship title Bejeweled(R) has sold more than 5 million units across
all major platforms. PopCap games are available for Web, PC and Mac, videogame
consoles, cell-phones, PDAs and other mobile devices, in-flight on leading
airlines, and more.
NOTE: PopCap and PopCap Games are registered trademarks of PopCap Games,
Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their
respective owners, without intent to infringe.
SOURCE PopCap Games, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.popcap.com
CONTACT:
Garth Chouteau for PopCap Games,
+1-415-602-8147, or garth@popcap.com; or Beth Bryant for Games
For Health Project, +1-207-773-3700, or bbryant@dmill.com
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