title: Physical and Cognitive Impacts of Digital Games on Older Adults: A Meta-Analytic Review.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the physical and cognitive impacts of digital games on older adults. We conducted five independent meta-analyses by reporting 58 effect sizes generated from 36 studies. Results suggested that playing digital games is effective in improving older adults' physical balance (g = 0.67), balance confidence (g = 0.46), functional mobility (g = 0.53), executive function (g = 0.76), and processing speed (g = 0.54). Based on the results of heterogeneity analysis, we conducted moderator analyses for physical balance and processing speed. Key findings included the following: Playing digital games can not only improve the physical balance of older adults living in community but also those living in nursing homes; the relationship between age of participants or amount of time of gameplay and effect size is weak and the direction of the relationship is not definitive.
authors.affiliation: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada fza26@sfu.ca.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaufman
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology
keywords: digital games; meta-analysis; older adults; physical and cognitive abilities