According to the SHARP BRAINS BLOG, “As a group, the 'gamers' became significantly better – and faster – at switching between tasks as compared to the comparison group. Their working memory, as reflected in the tests, was also significantly improved and their reasoning ability was enhanced.”
In a second study, the researchers “found no comparable cognitive benefits for college students in their early 20s who played the same game for the same number of hours, regardless of whether they play videogames often or don't.”
Why Did Older Players Benefit More?
Professor A. F. Kramer, one of the researchers, explained it this way in the blog: “It seems clear that, as we age, our so-called crystallized abilities remain pretty stable, whereas the so-called fluid abilities decline. One particular set of fluid abilities are called executive functions, which deal with executive control, planning, dealing with ambiguity, prioritizing, multi-tasking. These skills are crucial to maintain independent living.
“In this study, . . . we showed that playing a strategy-based videogame (Rise of Nations Gold Edition) . . . transferred to untrained executive functions. We saw a significant improvement in task switching, working memory, visual short-term memory, and mental rotation. And some, but more limited, benefits in inhibition and reasoning.”
In short, complex strategy games are very, very good for older people’s brains.