According to a recent study conducted by PopGames and a University of Massachusetts Amherst researcher, playing the video game Bejeweled Blitz makes people smarter.
UMass researcher Susan K. Whitbourne, Ph.D., revealed the results of a survey that studied 10,000 U.S. adults after playing the addictive puzzle game.
The study used Bejeweled Blitz as a cognitive training tool for older adults.
PopCap Games, the creator of Bejeweled, was a survey underwriter for the study.
According to Whitbourne, 47% of adults over 50 who played Bejeweled Blitz regularly, said they felt “sharper” when performing other tasks.
Similarly, 23.9% of adults over 65 felt their ability to see patterns improved after playing the puzzle game.
According to her study, cognitive tasks used while playing Bejeweled Blitz require “rapid decision-making, conjunctive visual search skills and reaction time.”
The survey is the first in a series to examine the cognitive value of videogame play on an older audience, according to the report.
