In the news: Memory boost and antibiotics risk
Scientists believe 3D gaming could provide a novel treatment for people affected by age-related memory loss or dementia. Student volunteers playing the game Super Mario 3D World boosted their performance in memory tests by around 12% – roughly the amount it normally decreases by between the ages of 45 and 70. But playing a less involving two-dimensional game, Angry Birds did not have the same beneficial effect.
3D games are thought to stimulate the hippocampus, a brain region vital to memory that shrinks with age and is damaged by Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Previous research has shown that video games can improve eye-to-hand co-ordination and reaction times. The new study is published in The Journal Of Neuroscience.
