Wang Ping, Zhu Xing-Ting, Qi Zhigang, Huang Silin, Li Hui-Jie
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.
Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2017 Nov 21;9:382. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2017.00382. eCollection 2017.
Video games have been found to have positive influences on executive function in older adults; however, the underlying neural basis of the benefits from video games has been unclear. Adopting a task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study targeted at the flanker task, the present study aims to explore the neural basis of the improved executive function in older adults with video game experiences. Twenty video game players (VGPs) and twenty non-video game players (NVGPs) of 60 years of age or older participated in the present study, and there are no significant differences in age ( = 0.62, = 0.536), gender ratio ( = 1.29, = 0.206) and years of education ( = 1.92, = 0.062) between VGPs and NVGPs. The results show that older VGPs present significantly better behavioral performance than NVGPs. Older VGPs activate greater than NVGPs in brain regions, mainly in frontal-parietal areas, including the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the left supramarginal gyrus, the right angular gyrus, the right precuneus and the left paracentral lobule. The present study reveals that video game experiences may have positive influences on older adults in behavioral performance and the underlying brain activation. These results imply the potential role that video games can play as an effective tool to improve cognitive ability in older adults.
研究发现电子游戏对老年人的执行功能有积极影响；然而，电子游戏带来益处的潜在神经基础尚不清楚。本研究采用基于任务的功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究，以侧翼任务为目标，旨在探索有电子游戏体验的老年人执行功能改善的神经基础。20名60岁及以上的电子游戏玩家（VGP）和20名非电子游戏玩家（NVGP）参与了本研究，VGP和NVGP在年龄（t = 0.62，p = 0.536）、性别比例（t = 1.29，p = 0.206）和受教育年限（t = 1.92，p = 0.062）方面无显著差异。结果表明，老年VGP的行为表现明显优于NVGP。老年VGP在大脑区域的激活程度高于NVGP，主要在额顶叶区域，包括右侧背外侧前额叶皮层、左侧缘上回、右侧角回、右侧楔前叶和左侧中央旁小叶。本研究表明，电子游戏体验可能对老年人的行为表现和潜在的大脑激活有积极影响。这些结果暗示了电子游戏作为提高老年人认知能力的有效工具的潜在作用。
