Friday, June 30, 2006
Almost 45 minutes ago...
...I finished a conversation with a Prescott friend who has, serendipitously and recently, watched a small group of nursing home residents (all elderly) using Brain Age at the facility where she visits her mother. Some of the residents' relatives provided a few of them with the game and they formed a "Brain Improvement" club. My friend was interested so asked if she could sit in, watch the activity and ask questions. One of the residents even allowed her to set up a profile, in case she comes by and her mom is "asleep, again".
She encouraged me to at least set up a profile for myself, before both my mother and I start fooling with the game, so that I'll know what to expect in terms of time to explain what she just saw and time to explain what she is about to see. Now that I've set up a profile, I understand what she means. A few of the very first screens flit by pretty fast. Once Dr. Kawashima starts explaining, though, the player has all the time she needs to understand instructions, go back and forth, etc. With my setting up of an initial user profile, all the miscellaneous console set-up is taken care of. Setting up a game profile is leisurely and gives you lots of room for mistakes.
Then, the Actual Brain Age Test starts. It can be taken (and is offered) every time one starts the game and, my understanding is, any time one wants to check one's brain age. In case you're wondering, on my first try my Brain Age was 80. On my second try it was 70. On my third try it was 75. It should be noted that a few times I "got the color" (you'll know what I'm talking about if you've taken the test) right but it took the machine awhile to figure out that when I say, for instance, "Blue", I mean "Blue". Speech recognition is not this game's strong point, although I assume it gets better the more it hears the profiled speaker.
I didn't go into a training session. I decided to wait for what I'm sure will be the surprise of Mom fooling around with this thing. I'm a bit concerned about the screen. There is a bleed-under screen effect that, if one doesn't hold the game right, can cause the current screen to "disappear" in glare and show an already accessed screen. I'm hoping this won't be too much of a problem. LCD screens are shitty that way. I'm surprised, in all these years of LCD screens, no one's addressed this problem.
So, I'm sure we'll be trying it today.
Later.
She encouraged me to at least set up a profile for myself, before both my mother and I start fooling with the game, so that I'll know what to expect in terms of time to explain what she just saw and time to explain what she is about to see. Now that I've set up a profile, I understand what she means. A few of the very first screens flit by pretty fast. Once Dr. Kawashima starts explaining, though, the player has all the time she needs to understand instructions, go back and forth, etc. With my setting up of an initial user profile, all the miscellaneous console set-up is taken care of. Setting up a game profile is leisurely and gives you lots of room for mistakes.
Then, the Actual Brain Age Test starts. It can be taken (and is offered) every time one starts the game and, my understanding is, any time one wants to check one's brain age. In case you're wondering, on my first try my Brain Age was 80. On my second try it was 70. On my third try it was 75. It should be noted that a few times I "got the color" (you'll know what I'm talking about if you've taken the test) right but it took the machine awhile to figure out that when I say, for instance, "Blue", I mean "Blue". Speech recognition is not this game's strong point, although I assume it gets better the more it hears the profiled speaker.
I didn't go into a training session. I decided to wait for what I'm sure will be the surprise of Mom fooling around with this thing. I'm a bit concerned about the screen. There is a bleed-under screen effect that, if one doesn't hold the game right, can cause the current screen to "disappear" in glare and show an already accessed screen. I'm hoping this won't be too much of a problem. LCD screens are shitty that way. I'm surprised, in all these years of LCD screens, no one's addressed this problem.
So, I'm sure we'll be trying it today.
Later.
