The Simon Fraser University study, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLOS ONE, is based on an analysis of the digital performance records of 3,305 individuals — aged 16 to 44 — who played the computer war game StarCraft 2. Their performance records represented thousands of hours of strategic real-time cognitive-based moves performed at varied skill levels.
 

Using complex statistical modeling, the researchers distilled how players responded to their opponents and how long they took to react.
 

SFU's Joe Thompson, a psychology doctoral student who helped lead the analysis, said the findings showed a clear drop-off in performance after peaking at age 24.

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"After around 24 years of age, players show slowing in a measure of cognitive speed that is known to be important for performance," said Thompson. "This cognitive performance decline is present even at higher levels of skill."
 

But not all the news is bad for the post-24 set. The review showed older players more readily use short cut and sophisticated command keys to compensate for declining speed in making real-time decisions, according to a Medical Xpress report on the research.

 

"Older players, though slower, seem to compensate by employing simpler strategies and using the game's interface more efficiently than younger players, enabling them to retain their skill, despite cognitive motor-speed loss," Thompson said.

 

He added that the study is just one example of how the increasingly digitized world is providing a growing wealth of information that is informing social science studies.