A recently published study conducted by the University of Illinois psychology department finds that time spent playing video games actually improves the mental abilities of elderly people.

After subjecting a group of 40 elderly people (60+ year olds) to almost 24 hours of Big Huge Games’ real-time strategy title Rise of Nations, the group exhibited notable improvements in a number of cognitive tests.

“As a group, the gamers became significantly better — and faster — at switching between tasks as compared to the comparison group,” the study reports.

“Their working memory, as reflected in the tests, was also significantly improved. Their reasoning ability was enhanced. To a lesser extent, their short-term memory of visual cues was better than that of their peers, as was their ability to identify rotated objects.”

Image courtesy Microsoft

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