title: Video game training enhances cognitive control in older adults.
abstract: Cognitive control is defined by a set of neural processes that allow us to interact with our complex environment in a goal-directed manner. Humans regularly challenge these control processes when attempting to simultaneously accomplish multiple goals (multitasking), generating interference as the result of fundamental information processing limitations. It is clear that multitasking behaviour has become ubiquitous in today's technologically dense world, and substantial evidence has accrued regarding multitasking difficulties and cognitive control deficits in our ageing population. Here we show that multitasking performance, as assessed with a custom-designed three-dimensional video game (NeuroRacer), exhibits a linear age-related decline from 20 to 79 years of age. By playing an adaptive version of NeuroRacer in multitasking training mode, older adults (60 to 85 years old) reduced multitasking costs compared to both an active control group and a no-contact control group, attaining levels beyond those achieved by untrained 20-year-old participants, with gains persisting for 6 months. Furthermore, age-related deficits in neural signatures of cognitive control, as measured with electroencephalography, were remediated by multitasking training (enhanced midline frontal theta power and frontal-posterior theta coherence). Critically, this training resulted in performance benefits that extended to untrained cognitive control abilities (enhanced sustained attention and working memory), with an increase in midline frontal theta power predicting the training-induced boost in sustained attention and preservation of multitasking improvement 6 months later. These findings highlight the robust plasticity of the prefrontal cognitive control system in the ageing brain, and provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, of how a custom-designed video game can be used to assess cognitive abilities across the lifespan, evaluate underlying neural mechanisms, and serve as a powerful tool for cognitive enhancement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94158, USA. joaquin.anguera@ucsf.edu
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Anguera
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boccanfuso
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rintoul
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Al-Hashimi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Faraji
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Janowich
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Larraburo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rolle
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gazzaley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology; D024803:Biomedical Enhancement; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013826:Theta Rhythm; D013997:Time Factors; D018910:Video Games; D055815:Young Adult