Learning with Video Games: A Revolution in Education and Training?

By Marshall Weinstein | July 29, 2011 |

In recent years, we have wit­nessed the begin­nings of a rev­o­lu­tion in edu­ca­tion.  Tech­nol­o­gy has fun­da­men­tal­ly altered the way we do many things in dai­ly life, but it is just start­ing to make head­way in chang­ing the way we teach.  Just as tele­vi­sion shows like Sesame Street enhanced the pas­sive learn­ing of infor­ma­tion for kids…

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Brain Games and Training for Baby Boomers: News Round-Up

By Alvaro Fernandez | February 8, 2009

Round-up of recent news with a vari­ety of angles, from the effects of gam­ing to cog­ni­tive train­ing for dri­ving skills and brain fit­ness class­es. Seniors use brain train­ing soft­ware to sharp­en their minds (Dal­las Morn­ing News) — “All­state Insur­ance has invit­ed some pol­i­cy­hold­ers and oth­er old­er dri­vers to try InSight so researchers can eval­u­ate whether the…

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Nintendo Brain Age/ Training vs. Crossword Puzzles

By Alvaro Fernandez | January 27, 2009 |

Nin­ten­do brain-train­er ‘no bet­ter than pen­cil and paper’ (The Times): “The sur­vey of ten-year-old chil­dren found no evi­dence to sup­port claims in Nin­ten­do’s adver­tis­ing cam­paign, fea­tur­ing Nicole Kid­man, that users can test and reju­ve­nate their grey cells. The Nin­ten­do DS is a tech­no­log­i­cal jew­el. As a game it’s fine, said Alain Lieury, pro­fes­sor of cog­ni­tive psychology…

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Are videogames good for YOU? Depends on who YOU are

By Alvaro Fernandez | December 28, 2008 |

Two recent sci­en­tif­ic stud­ies pub­lished by Dr. Arthur Kramer and col­leagues present fas­ci­nat­ing results. The two stud­ies are: 1) Basak C, et al “Can train­ing in a real-time strat­e­gy video game atten­u­ate cog­ni­tive decline in old­er adults?” Psy­chol Aging 2008; DOI: 10.1037/a0013494. 2) Boot, W. R., Kramer, A. F., Simons, D. J., Fabi­ani, M. & Gratton,…

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Games for Brain Health — Novelty, Variety and Challenge

By Alvaro Fernandez | December 12, 2008

Land­mark study just pub­lished: Basak C, et al “Can train­ing in a real-time strat­e­gy video game atten­u­ate cog­ni­tive decline in old­er adults?” Psy­chol Aging 2008; DOI: 10.1037/a0013494. Play­ing com­put­er games improves brain pow­er of old­er adults, claim sci­en­tists (Tele­graph) — The team at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois recruit­ed 40 adults over 60 years old, half…

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