Video Games Make You Smarter
Tony Dorito - December 4, 2014
Because this is somewhat of a bold and unintuitive claim, I wont bother telling you about personal experiences or antidote evidence or simply MY OPINION… for such a sensitive yet awesome subject I will just let what researchers and scientists have discovered speak for itself.
United States Department of Defense and Navy
“We have discovered that video game players perform 10 to 20 percent higher in terms of perceptual and cognitive ability than normal people that are non-game players […] For the last 50 years, fluid intelligence was felt to be immutable […] We think that these games increase your executive control, or your ability to focus and attend to stimuli in the outside world. We know that video games can increase perceptual abilities and short-term memory, they allow the player to focus longer and expand the player’s field of vision compared to people who don’t play video games”
-Ray Perez
You can read more about what the DoD and Navy thinks about video games and how they increase cognitive ability, At defense.gov and dodlive.mil
Max Planck Institute and Charité University
“While previous studies have shown differences in brain structure of video gamers, the present study can demonstrate the direct causal link between video gaming and a volumetric brain increase. This proves that specific brain regions can be trained by means of video games.”
-Simone Kühn
This study concluded that playing video games increases of gray matter in the right hippocampus, right prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum; Which are responsible for spatial navigation, memory formation, strategic planning, and fine motor skills.
You can read more about this study here, here, here, and here
University of Rochester 2010 Study
“It’s not the case that the action game players are ‘trigger-happy’ and less accurate: They are just as accurate and also faster […] Action game players make more correct decisions per unit time. […] Decisions are never black and white, the brain is always computing probabilities. […] What the individual gains by playing action games is the ability to collect more information from their surroundings, then really make better decisions”
-Dr. Daphne Bavelier
You can read more about this study here, here, here, and here
Current Biology – Action Video Games Make Dyslexic Children Read Better
“These findings are in agreement with several reports documenting the beneficial effects of playing video games for attention. In particular, previous studies have demonstrated that AVG [Action Video Game]-controlled training was causally linked to enhancements in spatial (e.g., peripheral target recognition) and temporal (e.g., attentional blink and backward masking reduction) attention. AVGs are distinguished by NAVGs [Non-Action Video Game] by such characteristics as game speed, a high sensory-motor load, and presentation of multiple, peripheral stimuli. AVG players constantly receive both external and internal feedback on their performance, producing learning. AVG players perform better at tasks requiring both distributed and focused visual spatial attention. They also react more quickly to stimulus targets preceded by spatiotemporal cues, suggesting a more efficient alerting system. AVG players have faster response times without a loss of accuracy.”
You can read more about this study here
Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences
“Previous research has demonstrated that action video games, such as Halo, can speed up decision making but the current work finds that real-time strategy games can promote our ability to think on the fly and learn from past mistakes. Our paper shows that cognitive flexibility, a cornerstone of human intelligence, is not a static trait but can be trained and improved using fun learning tools like gaming. The volunteers who played the most complex version of the video game performed the best in the post-game psychological tests. We need to understand now what exactly about these games is leading to these changes, and whether these cognitive boosts are permanent or if they dwindle over time. Once we have that understanding, it could become possible to develop clinical interventions for symptoms related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or traumatic brain injuries, for example.”
– Dr Brian Glass
You can read more about this study here and here
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