This brain builder is so good that we are quoting the title as
published in a prestigious scientific journal: “Playing Super Mario 64 increases hippocampal grey matter in older
adults.” It seems that some researchers from Montreal and St. John’s
Newfoundland have nothing better to do than play video games. Well, not
exactly. Gregory L. West, PhD and Benjamin Rich Zendel PhD, put together a
research team to see if the brains of older adults would benefit from playing video
games and, if so, exactly how.
The team from the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University
of Newfoundland and from the Centre de Researche en Neurologie et Cognition at
the University of Montreal, recruited 33 adults from ages 55 to 75. They used
the standard test method with a control group and subject groups. The control
group continued their normal activities. A second group took self-directed
piano lessons (as we’ve covered before, research shows notable brain growth
from learning to play a musical instrument). The third group played Super Mario
64.
Guess what happened?
·
Both the new musicians and the gamers had
improvements in the cerebellum. The cerebellum is a region of the brain
responsible for fine motor and muscle control, balance, coordination and
posture.
·
The music students improved their dorsolateral
prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The DLPFC seems have connections to most other brain
regions, and is also involved in memory, but also attention, and noticing when
a situation has changed.
·
The video-playing group was the only one that
experienced hippocampus growth. If you follow this blog or the sister blog at www.BigBrain.Place you’ve seen the term hippocampus enough to
know that it plays a fundamental role memory building.
·
The control group, sadly, went measurably
downhill.
The researchers hypothesize that Super Mario success depends
upon building a three-dimensional mental map, which taxes the brain
sufficiently to drive neuron growth. But note the benefit from learning a
musical instrument as well. Why not do both? For those of you who want to get
deep into the science, here is a link
to the research.
Shameless plugs and
more
Our window for shipping for Christmas delivery has passed.
But given how often the theme of exercise being a foundation of brain health recurs
in research, you might just want to get one of our cool, lightweight,
travel-friendly exercise
bands and straps kit
for that New Year’s
resolution. Or treat yourself to a brain-challenging
puzzle
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