Can software make older drivers sharper?

Maybe… but I don’t think we know yet.  SFGate:

Earlier this year, a car ran a red light at an intersection in Pittsburgh and narrowly missed smashing into the driver's side of W. Larocca's car.

Larocca, 57, was able to stop in time. He believes what saved him was the 40 minutes a day he spent using brain fitness software that supposedly improves reaction time and peripheral vision.

The program was part of an experiment run by Allstate Insurance and Posit Science, a San Francisco software startup.

"I was thinking it was just like the (software) game," he said, remembering his near-miss. "I was looking straight ahead - I didn't expect this car on the left. I can't prove it, but I'm 100 percent convinced that if I hadn't taken the course, I would have been hit."

…Although it's not clear how effective these programs are, interest is growing in this type of software, which is evolving rapidly. Some firms are attracting venture capital. USA Hockey last year signed a partnership to develop brain fitness software for its players, and the Army is using it to screen soldiers before they're deployed.

The article’s headline is actually “Software designed to make older drivers sharper.”  The emphasis in the headline should really be on “designed to”, because we don’t know yet (at least, from the information provided in the article) whether the software works.  It would appear there is more work to do on the science before we can draw conclusions.  I am always of two minds when I see a report like this, on research for which results are not yet available.  On one hand, it is interesting that such studies are underway, and it would be of great benefit if it turns out such software can be effective.  On the other hand, I suspect there are a great many people who will see this article who don’t have much grounding in how scientific research works.  How many people will reach the headline, not read the article, and think “huh, they have software now that can make older driver’s sharper!”  How long before there are unscrupulous entrepreneurs out there selling software that claims to do this very thing?  Indeed, while I have not investigated, I would not be surprised to learn such software is already out there.  (I am assuming, though I don’t know for sure, that the popular games out there along these lines are clearly identified as games, and make no medical claims, in which case I would not count those as unscrupulous.)