Video‐Game Training

Video-game training generally refers to games designed to improve specific skills, knowledge, and fluid abilities such as executive function and spatial ability. Fluid abilities are important for daily activities but are susceptible to significant age-related decline. As a result, there has been great interest in harnessing video games to ameliorate or reverse these age-related changes. This entry provides a brief overview of the intellectual and social context, theories of the potential mechanisms, the evolution of video-game training with major findings, and the applications of video-game training in cognitive and physical rehabilitation for older persons. Keywords: aging and developmental psychology; applied cognition; cognitive training; video games