Over the Hill at 24: Persistent Age-Related Cognitive-Motor Decline in Reaction Times in an Ecologically Valid Video Game Task Begins in Early Adulthood

Abstract

Typically studies of the effects of aging on cognitive-motor performance emphasize changes in elderly populations. Although some research is directly concerned with when age-related decline actually begins, studies are often based on relatively simple reaction time tasks, making it impossible to gauge the impact of experience in compensating for this decline in a real world task. The present study investigates age-related changes in cognitive motor performance through adolescence and adulthood in a complex real world task, the real-time strategy video game StarCraft 2. In this paper we analyze the influence of age on performance using a dataset of 3,305 players, aged 16-44, collected by Thompson, Blair, Chen & Henrey [1]. Using a piecewise regression analysis, we find that age-related slowing of within-game, self-initiated response times begins at 24 years of age. We find no evidence for the common belief expertise should attenuate domain-specific cognitive decline. Domain-specific response time declines appear to persist regardless of skill level. A second analysis of dual-task performance finds no evidence of a corresponding age-related decline. Finally, an exploratory analyses of other age-related differences suggests that older participants may have been compensating for a loss in response speed through the use of game mechanics that reduce cognitive load.

Increased spatial granularity of left brain activation and unique age/gender signatures: a 4D frequency domain approach to cerebral lateralization at rest

“…The power decrease in the low temporal frequencies may be related to the increase in reaction time with aging. (Thompson, Blair, & Henrey, 2014) found that age-related slowing of the reaction time begins at the age of 24, in their task study of playing video games. Our result is also consistent with (Allen et al, 2011) which found a significant decrease in low frequency (0.01–0.15 Hz) power spectra of all RSN networks with aging, and included speculation that this could be due to decrease in gray matter concentration along with the influence of other factors such as vascular compliance or decrease in neural activity.…”

Using Video Game Telemetry Data to Research Motor Chunking, Action Latencies, and Complex Cognitive‐Motor Skill Learning

“…This has important consequences for laboratory research relying on expert‐novice comparisons. In a subsequent study, Thompson, Blair, and Henrey () found the predicted impact of aging on response time but no evidence for a dual‐task cost. In the present work, we use in situ recordings of StarCraft 2 video game play to examine the generalizability of the timings predicted by the sequence performance literature.…”

Large cross-sectional study of presbycusis reveals rapid progressive decline in auditory temporal acuity

“…Like other sensory systems and the CNS in general, the speed and precision of processing undergoes a progressive decline with advancing age (Eckert, 2011,Thompson, et al, 2014). Given linkage between auditory temporal processing and speech perception (Snell, et al, 2002,Tyler, et al, 1982), pitch perception (de Boer, 1976), and voice identification and separation (Rosen, 1992,Snyder and Alain, 2005), it is likely that declines in temporal processing contribute to the debilitating consequences of age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) including social isolation, general decline in health, and increased risk of dementia (Lin, et al, 2013).…”