Video games may be the key to reverse negative affects of aging in older people, according to UC San Francisco news release.

"The finding is a powerful example of how plastic the older brain is," said Adam Gazzaley, MD, PhD, UCSF associate professor of neurology, physiology and psychiatry and director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center.

A new study suggests a racing video designed by researchers helped improve cognitive control in older people. The findings were published in the journal Nature.

Participants ages 60-85 were trained on how to play the game for a total of 12 hours in a month. After the training, the elderly people reportedly showed drastic cognitive improvements.

"In the game, which was developed by the UCSF researchers, participants race a car around a winding track while a variety of road signs pop up," the University said. "Drivers are instructed to keep an eye out for a specific type of sign, while ignoring all the rest, and to press a button whenever that particular sign appears. The need to switch rapidly from driving to responding to the signs - i.e. multitasking - generates interference in the brain that undermines performance. The researchers found that this interference increases dramatically across the adult lifespan."

And the cognitive improvements stayed with the participants six months after their game training sessions, according to researchers.

The new study piggybacks on another positive video game research findings.

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and University College London (UCL) published a study of their own suggesting certain video games will improves agility and strategic thinking,

Scientists measured the 'cognitive flexibility' of 72 female participants, described as one's "ability to adapt and switch between tasks, and think about multiple ideas at a given time to solve problems," according to a news release. 

Their findings were published in journal PLOS One.

The volunteers were split into two groups: "Two groups of volunteers were trained to play different versions of a real-time strategy game called StarCraft, a fast-paced game where players have to construct and organise armies to battle an enemy. A third of the group played a life simulation video game called The Sims, which does not require much memory or many tactics."

The participants played video games for 40 hours over six to eight weeks, and were given different psychological tests before and after their game playing. Once the research was completed, scientists found "those who played StarCraft were quicker and more accurate in performing cognitive flexibility tasks, than those who played The Sims."

Dr Brian Glass from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, said: "Previous research has demonstrated that action video games, such as Halo, can speed up decision making but the current work finds that real-time strategy games can promote our ability to think on the fly and learn from past mistakes."

Dr Glass added: "The volunteers who played the most complex version of the video game performed the best in the post-game psychological tests. We need to understand now what exactly about these games is leading to these changes, and whether these cognitive boosts are permanent or if they dwindle over time. Once we have that understanding, it could become possible to develop clinical interventions for symptoms related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or traumatic brain injuries, for example."