Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY
Volume 34, Issue 2, Pages 324-332Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/gps.5024
Keywords
cognitive intervention; community-dwelling older adults; Go game; leisure activity; social interaction; working memory
Categories
Funding
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [KAKENHI / 16K13036]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objectives: The purpose of this study is to clarify the influence of social interaction on the effect of a cognitive intervention program using Go. Methods: A single-blind, randomized controlled trial using a classical board game Go was conducted. A total of 72 community-dwelling older adults, without previous experience playing Go, were randomly assigned to three groups: (1) a face-to-face group (FG) in which members attended 12 Go group lessons held once a week; (2) a non-face-to-face group (NFG) in which members individually underwent the same Go lessons as the FG using a tablet computer; or (3) a health education control group (CG). The main outcome variable, working memory, was assessed before and after the interventions using the Visual Memory Span Test (VMST) and the Visual Memory Span Backward (VMSB) task. Go performance and additional cognitive domains were also examined. Results: Analysis of covariance revealed that VMST scores significantly improved after the intervention in both the FG and NFG (both P < .05). Compared with the CG, the effect size of the FG (Cohen's d = 0.89) was greater than that of the NFG (Cohen's d = 0.67). Although VMSB scores significantly improved after the intervention in the FG (P < .05), no significant changes were observed in other groups. Conclusions: This study showed that Go game could improve visual working memory regardless of social interaction. Furthermore, findings suggested that playing board games face-to-face with others is more effective for cognitive function than playing alone.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available