Forget teenagers -- seniors got game

Psychology research McMaster University in Hamilton showed senior gamers who spend at least four hours a week playing action video games display an array of skills, the Toronto Star said Thursday. Doing battle in Medal of Honor drew out skills such as improved reaction times and good spatial reasoning to a awareness of their surroundings and better short-term memory.

"Just as an elderly adult may do 15 minutes of weight training to fight osteoporosis, so could he or she play video games to keep the mind sharp," said psychology researcher Jim Karle, a graduate student in the university's department of psychology, neuroscience and behavior.

With as few as 10 hours of training, non-gamers begin to demonstrate the same mental strengths, Karle said.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International