The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of video gameplay and biological sex on memory and the Need for Cognition in adults and aging adults. A sample of adults who played video games were identified from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The final poststrata sample included 242 respondents in the 2012 HRS wave. Of these respondents, 121 indicated engagement with video games (videogamers), and 121 were a match sample of non-videogamers on age, sex, and HRS cohort. Results revealed no difference in memory or the Need for Cognition between adults who played video games and those who did not play video games. There was an effect of biological sex on general memory performance. Implications of the results are further discussed.
AndradeC.RadhakrishnanR. (2009). The prevention and treatment of cognitive decline and dementia: An overview of recent research on experimental treatments. Indian journal of psychiatry, 51(1), 12.
2.
BainbridgeW. S. (2013). Converging technologies for improving human performance: Nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science. Berlin, Germany: Springer Science & Business Media.
3.
BaranowskiM. T.LiebermanP. D.BudayR.PengW.ZimmerliL.WiederholdB.KatoP. M. (2013). Videogame mechanics in games for health. GAMES FOR HEALTH: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications, 2(4), 194-204.
4.
BasakC.BootW. R.VossM. W.KramerA. F. (2008). Can training in a real-time strategy video game attenuate cognitive decline in older adults?. Psychology and aging, 23(4), 765.
5.
BelchiorP.MarsiskeM.SiscoS. M.YamA.BavelierD.BallK.MannW. C. (2013). Video game training to improve selective visual attention in older adults. Computers in human behavior, 29(4), 1318-1324.
6.
BootW. R.KramerA. F.SimonsD. J.FabianiM.GrattonG. (2008). The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control. Acta psychologica, 129(3), 387-398.
7.
CacioppoJ. T.PettyR. E. (1982). The need for cognition. Journal of personality and social psychology, 42(1), 116.
8.
FestlR.ScharkowM.QuandtT. (2013). Problematic computer game use among adolescents, younger and older adults. Addiction, 108(3), 592-599.
9.
GerlingK.LivingstonI.NackeL.MandrykR. (2012, May). Full-body motion-based game interaction for older adults. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1873-1882). ACM.
10.
HallA. K.ChavarriaE.ManeeratanaV.ChaneyB. H.BernhardtJ. M. (2012). Health benefits of digital videogames for older adults: a systematic review of the literature. Games for Health: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications, 1(6), 402-410.
11.
HendrickxH.McEwenB. S.van der OuderaaF. (2005). Metabolism, mood and cognition in aging: the importance of lifestyle and dietary intervention. Neurobiology of aging, 26(1), 1-5.
12.
HessA.NeiderM. (2015). It’s in the game: Exploring Cognitive Differences between Professional Gamers and Novices. Journal of vision, 15(12), 1334-1334.
13.
HowellD. C. (2007). Statistical methods for psychology Thomson Wadsworth. Belmont, CA, 1-739.
JohnsonN. L. (1949). Systems of frequency curves generated by methods of translation. Biometrika, 36(1/2), 149-176.
16.
JohnsonR. A.WichernD. (2002). Multivariate analysis. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
17.
LevyR. (1994). Aging-associated cognitive decline. International Psychogeriatrics, 6(1), 63-68.
18.
LevineA.LiukkonenJ.LevineD. W. (1996). Equivalent inferences using transformations. Communications in Statistics-Theory and Methods, 25(5), 1059-1072.
19.
MazurJ. E. (2015). Learning and behavior. Psychology Press.
20.
NapH. H.de KortY. A. W.IJsselsteijnW. A. (2009). Senior gamers: preferences, motivations and needs. Gerontechnology, 8, 247–262.
21.
PearceC. (2008). The truth about baby boomer gamers: A study of over-forty computer game players. Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media, 3, 142–174. doi:10.1177/1555412008314132
22.
PerssonJ.NybergL.LindJ.LarssonA.NilssonL. G.IngvarM.BucknerR. L. (2005). Structure–function correlates of cognitive decline in aging. Cerebral cortex, 16(7), 907-915.
23.
PettyR. E.BriñolP.LoerschC.McCaslinM. J. (2009). The need for cognition. Handbook of individual differences in social behavior, 318-329.
24.
SchultheissD. (2012). ‘‘Entertainment for retirement?’’: Silvergamers and the internet. Public Communication Review, 2, 62.
25.
SmithJ.FisherG.RyanL.ClarkeP.HouseJ.WeirD. (2017). Psychosocial and lifestyle questionnaire. Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research.
26.
TabachnickB. G.FidellL. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. Allyn & Bacon/Pearson Education.
27.
TorilP.RealesJ. M.BallesterosS. (2014). Video game training enhances cognition of older adults: a meta-analytic study. Psychology and aging, 29(3), 706.
