I love video games obviously but what's the point of studying how they affect the elderly?

 

http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/19/4007448/house-republican-leader-blasts-world-of-warcraft-research-grant

It says right in the article that it promotes cognitive thinking.

I'm surprised they'd spend so much money on that but I guess it's interesting.

It says right in the article that it promotes cognitive thinking.

If it was a private business I'd be okay with it.....but I'm sure the government has much more important things they need to be doing

If they wind up having a breakthrough in altzheimers study it would fall under healthcare, and the government would get involved anyway. Having had a grandparent who suffered from this disease and memory loss, I don't see a problem with research if it turns up results.

If it was a private business I'd be okay with it.....but I'm sure the government has much more important things they need to be doing

The government is so giant and sometimes worthless that taking the scientists that are working on this to work on something else probably won't have any impact at all. These are hired scientists who most likely specialize in this kind of study, so the government probably doesn't even have anything "more important" they could do with them. To the scientists who study this sort of thing, this is important. They're helping people in their daily lives and tbh what else do you really want them to do? 

As someone who regularly volunteers at nursing homes, I can say that video games help the elderly. 

 

The nursing home I volunteer at has a Wii and Xbox 360 with Kinect. The elderly residents that are physically capable of participating in those games enjoy them a lot and often appear to be more alert and think quicker shortly after playing the game. 

 

This research isn't useless at all. We should be doing more studies on this sort of thing if anything, it could lead to methods that stop people's brains from degrading with age, or even restore them.