Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Jul 24, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 24, 2021 - Sep 18, 2021
Date Accepted: Apr 28, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Serious Games for Cognitive Training in Aging: Speech Processing in Adverse Conditions as a Far Transfer Gauge of Training Success - Evidence from Web-based Effectivate Training
ABSTRACT
Serious Games for Cognitive training in Aging (SGCTA) are proliferating the market, attempting to combat one of the most feared aspects of aging, cognitive decline. However, within research circles, the efficacy of many SGCTA’s is still questionable. Even classical cognitive measures used to validate SGCTA’s are up for debate, with most studies employing cognitive measures gauging “near transfer”: trained tasks. The current study takes a different approach, testing the efficacy of the SGCTA, “Effectivate”, in generating tangible “far transfer” improvement in a non-trained task: speech processing. Using the novel eye tracking paradigm for speech processing, “E-WINDMIL”, we tested 20 older adults before and after training with Effectivate, and another 20 older adults who did not train between test sessions. We find that training with the SGCTA, Effectivate, improves speech processing in adverse conditions. As Effectivate does not train any auditory task or language processing, these results present preliminary support for Effectivate’s ability to create a generalized cognitive effect. Given the crucial role of speech processing in healthy and successful aging, we advocate its use as a far transfer metrics to gauge SGCTA’s.
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