A new study suggests that time spent playing video games can increase brain activity, and even boost the cognitive skills required for decision making. Researchers behind the study claim that video games could even be used as a training method to improve rapid-fire decision-making processes in the brain.
"Video games are played by the overwhelming majority of our youth more than three hours every week, but the beneficial effects on decision-making abilities and the brain are not exactly known," said Mukesh Dhamala, Neuroscientist at Georgia State University. "Our work provides some answers on that."
The study was done using 47 college-age participants, with 28 of them categorized as regular gamers, and 19 as non-gamers. Said participants laid inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine with a mirror that allowed them to see a cue immediately followed by a display of moving dots, where they were asked to press a button in their right or left hand in indicate the direction the dots were moving. They also had the option to resist pressing either button if there was no directional movement.
Analysis of the resulting brain scans found that the differences were correlated with enhanced activity in certain parts of the brain, and there was no trade-off between speed and accuracy of response. The gamers ultimately proved better on both measures.
(All information was provided by Open Access Government and ScienceAlert)
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