Video Games May Ease Depression in Adults, Say UConn Researchers

A multi-institutional study is investigating how video games could help treat older adults with depression, reports WSHU . "If you stimulate their prefrontal cortex through brain games, through training and a cognitive ability called executive functioning, that might actually improve their depression," suggests the University of Connecticut's (UConn) Kevin Manning. He stresses that the games are specifically engineered to strengthen brain function. "Meaning, I'm going to ask you whenever you see a ball flash green, to press it, but don't press the ball if you see it turn red," Manning explains. "So practicing those abilities again and again are thought to potentially generate new pathways in the brain." Changes in participants' brains are then tracked during game play by magnetic resonance imaging. "One potential benefit of this study is, 'Can we actually show increased activation in the prefrontal lobes in older adults with major depression?'" Manning speculates. The UConn researchers have had promising initial results, with plans to jointly conduct a larger clinical trial with a University of Utah team.