Older drivers save money by playing computer games

I thought this was very cool. :)

Video game will help increase visual cognition for elderly drivers

Video games are often blamed for some of the problems among society like violence and murders. Some believe that video game violence begets violence in the real world, while others feel there is no merit at all in the link between the two.

Allstate is conducting research on the use of video games for a good cause. The insurance firm believes that certain types of video games could help improve the driving ability of elderly drivers. A program called InSight has been launched by Allstate and will provide specialized video games to 100,000 customers in Pennsylvania between the ages of 50 and 75.

The game used in the program is called Jewel Diver and is designed by Posit Science. Posit will track the total number of hours the participants in the pilot program spend on the game. The game itself is intended to improve age-related cognitive decline and improve visual alertness.

In the game, players must keep track of jewels that pop up on screen and are then hidden under fish swimming around. The player has to click the fish that has the jewel underneath in a Three Card Monte-like experience. The game gets more complex as it is played with more fish being added to the screen.

Allstate is looking for the participants to spend at least ten hours total playing the fame. The goal is to see if the game helps to improve driving for players in the correct age group, if so Allstate may roll the program out to more states and offer discounts to drivers who agree to play the game.

Tom Warden from Allstate says that Posit was chosen for the trial because it has been researching the improvement of brain fitness for older drivers for the past nine years.

The debate on whether video games can affect behavior in the real world is ongoing. It's no help that studies routinely come out that claim a win for one side or the other. In November 2007, a meta-study proclaimed that there is no link between violent video games and aggressive behavior. The same month a study was released that claimed violent video games are a great risk to public health.

News Source: http://www.dailytech.com/Allstate+P...s+Discount+for+Playing+Games/article13108.htm
 
it sounds like it's about training vision and reflexes. quake 3 for instance teaches these skills better than a racing game or driving simulator I believe.
 
it sounds like it's about training vision and reflexes. quake 3 for instance teaches these skills better than a racing game or driving simulator I believe.

While Quake 3 does teach you INCREDIBLE reflexes and perception, i dont think Q3 would be better at teaching people to drive than a driving simulator.

A semi-realistic racing game like GT or Forza or GTR doesn't really teach you anything that is needed on the roads, all you learn is how to take corner properly.. If anything it just makes you drive faster on the roads, and we dont really need old people driving fast on the highway.

The skills you need to be good in a racing simulator is far different from what you need on the road, on the road you really just have to watch out for the trafic laws and where other cars \ pedestrians are, its going so slow that you dont need to know how to properly take a corner.

99,99% of the people who drives a car every day does not know you should take a corner properly, simply because you never need that on the road unless you drive like a maniac. On the road, you just have to stay within your line and watch out, on the racing course, taking corners properly is really the only thing that matters.

(Q3 is amazing, it learned me the optimal way to aim in fps games, and it learned me to do it at the maximum sensitivy avaliable, i have become very very good at fps games without really playing them to much, it doesn't matter what game it is either as long as its an shooter i allways finish top 3 (usually i finish first), CQC i havent really met a player that manages to consistently beat me by a significant margin. (Then again i probably havent meet the best players, and now i only play with consoles, and match making usually seems to put me up against morons) . I give credit that credit to Q3, as all the games really just comes down to being able to aim good and FAST while moving, and Q3 railgun only is the best way to learn that )
 
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It wouldn't have been nearly as interesting, however, if the games were driving games. They were trying to show that it's not the content of the game itself per se, but rather the general act of relating motions on the screen to motions of the mouse that improves driving ability.
 
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