Using Variable Priority Training to Examine Video Game-Related Gains in Cognition.

Objectives: Identify mechanisms associated with video-game-related gains in cognitive functioning.
Method: Seventy-nine older adults (Mean age = 72.72, SD = 7.16) participated in a pretest-posttest intervention study. A video game that required four cognitive abilities was developed. The game had two modes: (1) variable priority training (VPT) and (2) single priority training (SPT). After a pretest session, participants completed a battery of cognitive tasks and 'were randomly assigned to either the VPT ( n = 42) or the SPT mode ( n = 37) for an average of 15.94 ( SD = 2.15) one-hour game play sessions. Post-testing was administrated within one week after completion of training.
Results: Time (pretest/posttest) by game mode (VPT/SPT) interactions were examined using Multivariate Repeated Measure ANOVAs. No significant multivariate training effects were observed.
Discussion: Results suggest that VPT may not be the underlying mechanism responsible for video-game-related gains in cognition. Our results also cast doubts on whether playing video games could lead to cognitive enhancements in older adults.
Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.