Scientists have long sought to prevent sharp memories from dulling with age, but the problem remains unsettled. Now research published in Scientific Reports suggests virtual reality might help older people recall facts and events based on specific details.
The study involved 42 healthy older adults from the San Francisco Bay Area. Half spent a dozen hours over four weeks playing a virtual-reality game called Labyrinth; they wore headsets and walked in place, walking virtual neighborhoods while completing small tasks. The other half, in the control group, used electronic tablets to play games that did not require recalling details. After 15 sessions (期), the latter performed roughly the same as before on a long-term memory test. But the Labyrinth players gain an improvement in memory through the VR game. A scientist Peter Wais of the University of California said the improvements brought them up to the level of another group of younger adults taking the same memory tests.
Meredith Thompson, an education researcher, studies learning through VR games but was not involved in the new study. It would be great to actually follow people over time and see what this type of game does for long-term memory. She says, adding VR can provide greater involvement than other games. Wais's team is now investigating how long the observed effects last and which elements of the training have the most impact.
A cognitive (认知)psychologist, Daniel Simons, who was also not involved in the study, notes experiments with other games that claim to train the brain have often failed to evaluate this. And it remains unclear how test performance in a laboratory setting might translate to real-world situations. The outcome, Simons notes, "needs to be repeated, ideally with a much larger group, before it's treated as a strong finding. "
For now, Wais says, the team hopes its studies with similar-sized groups will help draw funding to test the game in a larger pool of participants.