Video games that get you moving may improve some thinking skills

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   465 people took part in 13 studies from 10 countries. Most were adults with multiple sclerosis, stroke, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease or mild thinking problems. Some were children with Down syndrome or dyslexia.

2. 02

   What they did

   The video-game groups played active games, such as Nintendo Wii, which need balance and whole-body moves. Sessions lasted 30 to 90 minutes, once a week to five times a week, for 2 to 24 weeks. The other groups had usual therapy, walking, computer brain training, balance exercises, a non-active game, or nothing.

3. 03

   What happened

   Planning, doing two things at once, and judging shapes and space got better than in the other groups, by a medium amount. Attention did not clearly improve, and general thinking did not change. Some of the paper's numbers don't agree with each other, and the studies varied a lot.

What the review found

1. No difference

   Across 7 studies, video games did not clearly help attention more than other treatments did.

   Pooled analysis of 7 studies with 250 people · vs usual therapy, other activities or no treatment · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; mixes trials with other kinds of study

Source