Effect of dance video game training on elderly's cognitive function

抄録

We used dance video game (DVG) training as a mean of improving elderly's cognitive function and investigated whether the elderly with MCI could overcome the once affected cognitive function via continuous DVG training. Nine elderly participated in 6-weeks of DVG training for almost 3 months on 2015 and 2016 with 6 months break. Their cognitive ability (MoCA-J scores) and the prefrontal activity during DVG play were evaluated throughout the intervention. The cognitive ability and the performance of the DVG showed improvement especially in the elderly with MCI. The prefrontal activity showed increase through initial training of DVG and decrease at the end of the intervention, suggesting the cognitive load required for DVG play. Our results suggest that DVG is a promising intervention for elderly people with MCI to maintain their cognitive ability, and that we can utilize the prefrontal activity during DVG play to determine an appropriate difficulty of the DVG training.