Cognitive Benefits of Gaming

There have been many reports on the effects gaming has on a person’s mind. A positive example would be a study conducted by Green and Bavelier (2015) examined whether there was a causal link between playing ‘action video games’ and cognitive improvements.

An action video game is denoted as having detailed environments, moving targets, and the need to frequently adjust one’s focus between a single objective and spreading attention across multiple tasks while making quick yet precise actions. An example of an action game would be Unreal Tournament. Contrastingly, a ‘control video game’ is a game which lacks the traits present in an action game. An example of a control game would be The Sims.

Unreal Tournament is an example of an action game.

The study was performed using participants who had little or no experience playing action games. First, the participants’ cognitive abilities were measured using the Useful Field of View test (Wood & Owsley, 2014). These participants were then randomly assigned to play either an action video game or a control video game for periods of time ranging between 10 and 50 hours, spaced across multiple sessions to avoid negative effects. Lastly, 24 hours after a participant’s last gaming session, they are given the same test and measured for changes. The results showed that individuals assigned to playing the action games displayed improved performance in the Useful Field of View test, significantly more than the individuals assigned to the control games. The positive effects for participants assigned to the action games not persisted for at least 5 months, but also further, if slightly, improved.

The researchers noted the benefits of action video games include improved visual sensitivity, memorising visual information, perception-based decision making, visualising complex objects, capability to track multiple moving subjects, ease of switching between different tasks, and multi-tasking.

They also suggested action video games have potential practical applications in rehabilitation or job training. For rehabilitation, action games were shown improve the visual capabilities of adults with amblyopia and increase the reading capabilities of dyslexic children. For job training, action games can serve as training tools for laparoscopic surgeons.

The researchers concluded the study by proposing that action games foster a ‘learning to learn’ mentality; citing how these games require a player to be cognitively flexible, due to various visual stimuli and the need to often readjust one’s attention.

References:

CS Green, D Bavelier. 2015. Action video game training for cognitive enhancement, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. Volume 4, pp. 103-108. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154615000613

Wood JM, Owsley C. Useful field of view test. Gerontology. 2014;60(4):315-8. doi: 10.1159/000356753. Epub 2014 Mar 8. PMID: 24642933; PMCID: PMC4410269. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410269/