"Engaging with interactive vocabulary apps increases subjective mental clarity in older adults by over two-fifths," reports The Gerontology Weekly.
A study was conducted using an online survey by researchers from the University of Oxford and the brain health charity BrainFit. Researchers found correlations between the time retirees spent engaging with daily gamified language challenges and their self-reported cognitive alertness, memory confidence, and afternoon mental fatigue levels. Time spent reading traditional printed newspapers was not linked to cognitive alertness.
Retirees who completed challenges for more than 20 minutes a day were 50% more likely to report high memory confidence scores than those who used the app for less than 5 minutes a day. Those who completed at least three lessons daily were 30% less likely to report severe afternoon mental fatigue.
However, it is important to note that we cannot establish whether utilizing language-learning apps directly causes improved cognitive health. There are several limitations to utilizing online self-report surveys. While researchers aimed for a diverse, representative sample, selection bias may have occurred, as retirees already highly proactive about cognitive health were more likely to participate. The data also relies heavily on participants accurately recalling their daily study habits and mood, and some participants may have felt pressured to overreport their daily learning streak or mental performance. Additionally, the full dataset has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in an open-access journal.
Adapted from an article on the BrainFit Research Blog (September 2022)
Outline one strength of using this type of data (quantitative self-report data) in the research described in the article.
644 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Research methods and techniques. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.