Can video games form healthy habits?

By LANCE FULLER
Special to The Sun

Published: Monday, June 23, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 10:50 p.m.

More senior citizens will soon join the video game craze.

The University of Florida's College of Public Health and Health Professions has been awarded a two-year $100,000 grant to explore whether playing video games can motivate healthy behavior among the elderly.

UF joins 11 other universities that received grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focusing on improving mental health using video games.

"In the past decade, video games have often been looked at to measure improvement in cognitive skills," explained UF occupational therapist Patricia Belchior.

Belchior, Associate Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology Michael Marsiske, and Occupational Therapy Chairman William Mann will start this summer conducting the two-year study, which will consist of 72 people playing "Crazy Taxi" for about three months. These adults will then be monitored for improvements in driving.

UF researchers will monitor how playing "Crazy Taxi" on the PlayStation 2 affects visual attention in the elderly.

Prior to receiving the grant, UF performed a pilot study using the World War II first-person shooter video game "Medal of Honor" to detect and measure visual attention. That study was also performed at the University of Rochester.

"Visual attention refers to the amount of information that you retain at a glance. It is a skill that can be improved across a lifespan, particularly in driving and mobility," Marsiske said.

UF decided to use "Crazy Taxi," an action-adventure game based on driving, instead of "Medal of Honor" because of its simple controls and because of issues with violence.

The broad association between video games and violent behavior was an important concern for Marsiske and Belchior, so they decided to move away from a first-person shooter game to a driving game in their study.

Marsiske and Belchior want to focus on the physical and mental benefits of video games for the latest generation and how it can help older generations.

While there are no studies about whether age matters when playing video games, there are studies that show some games work for all ages.

"The old myth that you can't teach an old dog new tricks is false," Marsiske said. "Other research has shown that substantial training games effectively teach new software to older people - the only difference is that older people need more time to learn."

Innovations in video game controls and interface, such as the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, are being marketed more toward older adults, Marsiske said. According to one study, 25 percent of video game users are over 50 and that age group is the fastest-growing market for video games, Marsiske said.

"If interactive media holds the lion share of media output, it behooves us to use the Internet and video games to improve mental health," Marsiske said.