video games increase critical thinking

Do Video Games Improve Cognitive Performance?

Study finds improved cognitive and memory skills in kids who play video games.

Photo:  Pressmaster / Shutterstock

A study of nearly 2,000 children found that those who reported playing video games for three hours per day or more performed better on cognitive skills tests involving impulse control and working memory compared to children who had never played video games. Published in JAMA Network Open , this study analyzed data from the ongoing Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, supported by NIDA.

“Numerous studies have linked video gaming to behavior and mental health problems,” said NIDA director Dr. Nora Volkow. “This study suggests there may also be cognitive benefits associated with this popular pastime, which are worthy of further investigation.”

Scientists at the University of Vermont, Burlington, analyzed data obtained when children entered the ABCD Study at ages 9 and 10 years old. The research team examined survey, cognitive and brain imaging data from nearly 2,000 participants from within the bigger study cohort. 

The three-hour threshold was selected as it exceeds the American Academy of Pediatrics screen-time guidelines, which recommend that video gaming time be limited to one to two hours per day for older children. 

Investigators found that the children who reported playing video games for three or more hours daily were faster and more accurate on cognitive tasks than those who never played. 

In the gamer group, functional MRI brain imaging analyses found higher brain activity in regions of the brain associated with attention and memory. This group also had more brain activity in frontal brain regions associated with more cognitively demanding tasks and less brain activity in brain regions related to vision. 

While prior studies have reported associations between video gaming and increases in depression, violence and aggressive behavior, this study did not find that to be the case. There were reports of higher mental health and behavioral issues in this cohort but the authors could not confirm whether this trend reflected a true association or chance. They note this will be an important measure to continue to track and understand as these children mature.

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What Gaming Does to Your Brain—and How You Might Benefit

To stay away from Azeroth—which is to remain unsubscribed from Blizzard Entertainment’s enduring MMORPG, World of Warcraft —is no simple task. In fact, the gaming community has long (and only half-jokingly) referred to the orc- and elf-filled game as “ World of Warcrack .”

As somebody who, over the past 14 years, has racked up more than 600 days played, the pull of WoW ’s constant new dungeons, raids, and battlegrounds is something I can attest to. When I’m at a loose end, the first thing that comes to mind is logging on my level-60 rogue. And if I don’t play for an extended period of time, I’ll, quite literally, see WoW in my dreams. On a conscious and subconscious level, I can’t quite escape.

Video game “addiction,” though, isn’t solely relegated to WoW ; it’s cross-genre and cross-platform . Neither is addiction the only neurological and psychological side effect of video games. So how, scientifically, do video games—from MMORPGs to shooters and RPGs—affect our brains? And despite the drawbacks, can the brain benefit from video games?

When the subject of how video games affect us crops up, the first thing that comes to mind is video game addiction —a field that’s being increasingly studied by psychologists and neuroscientists alike and is often played up for headlines more than it is an actual mental health threat on its face. “Roughly speaking, there are no big differences between video game addiction and other addictions,” says Marc Palaus, who holds a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from the Open University of Catalonia. “One key aspect to understand how addictions work is the reward system of the brain. The reward system mediates how pleasant stimuli (such as the presence of food, water, social interaction, sexual contact, or video games in this case) act as positive reinforcers for behavior.” Once our brains have been exposed to something pleasurable, we often want (and then set out to get) more—and video games are certainly no exception.

Considering WoW ’s longevity and impressive following (at the time of writing, there are around 5 million monthly players ), it’s no surprise that DIY support communities have surfaced. /r/nowow , a subreddit of over 1,000 members, functions as a safe space where struggling WoW addicts can discuss broken relationships, wasted time, hindered education, and relapses. 

It’s a place I’ve personally found reassuring and frightening in equal measure—the highly engaging and enjoyable world-away-from-our-own-world, with its daily and weekly quests and never-ending updates, has sucked many a gamer in.

Lee Chambers, an environmental psychologist I spoke to, is someone whose story is similar to those posting on /r/nowow. “I found World of Warcraft in my second year of university, and sadly at a time when I was struggling with my mental health,” he said. “The game gave me the social connection I needed, but I became dependent on it as my mental health became worse, and I became embroiled in the game and avoided life, leading to me being taken home by my parents after isolating myself for weeks.” Thankfully, Chambers has since come out the other side.

The high-octane environments of shooters are a world apart from the slower-paced grind of an MMORPG like WoW , Final Fantasy XIV , and Elder Scrolls Online . And it’s Epic Games’ Fortnite , the candy-hued survival shooter, that’s particularly interesting when it comes to video games and the brain, not least because it’s become a cultural phenomenon, especially among young gamers whose brains are still developing.

At its core, Fortnite is a quick-fire and inherently repeatable game, with co-op, battle royale, and sandbox modes catering to different play styles. ( Fortnite Battle Royale matches last about 20 minutes, but players can be eliminated shortly after games begin, depending on their skill level and/or luck.) The thrill of staying alive in pressured, digital life-or-death scenarios, in addition to obtaining pop-culture-referencing skins and post-ironic dances, can release dopamine—one of the brain’s neurotransmitters. And after a match in Fortnite , the more dopamine that your brain releases and the more pleasure you feel, the greater your desire to play another round.

Fortnite ’s ability to keep gamers playing—not addicted, but certainly glued to the screen for extended periods—is well documented. In 2018, a year after the game’s official release, a 9-year-old girl in the UK was taken to rehab after deliberately wetting herself in order to keep playing—it became an international news story. A year later, in 2019, a Montreal-based legal firm sought to launch a class-action lawsuit against Epic Games; the firm argued that Epic had intentionally designed the game to be addictive. Prince Harry—as in the royal who’s sixth in line to the British throne—proclaimed, during a media event, “ That game shouldn't be allowed. ”

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Despite the bad press, Fortnite , and games like it, have proven brain-related benefits. First- and third-person shooters improve spatial reasoning, decisionmaking , and, contrary to popular belief, attention . In an article published by Men’s Health , writer Yo Zushi said that “even the heart-racing pressure you feel as your mate hunts you down in Fortnite Battle Royale turns out to be good for you: ‘Positive stress’ in the context of gameplay helps to motivate you while increasing your ability to focus IRL.”

Neurological and psychological research on video games is in its infancy—it’s in its early alpha stage, if you will. That’s because video games, as we know them, are modern inventions. And when assessing the research so far, studies show that it isn’t all warnings and worries. In fact, video games can be effective tools for upgrading our brains and our cognitive skill sets—especially in the long run.

Video game research truly kicked off in the late ’90s, with Daphne Bavelier and C. Shawn Green leading the charge while at the University of Rochester. They began to explore the unconventional idea that video games could impact and perhaps even aid with neuroplasticity—a biological process where the brain changes and adapts when exposed to new experiences.

After years of research, they found that action games in particular—games where reflexes, reaction time, and hand-eye coordination are challenged, like in the now-retro classics Doom and Team Fortress Classic —provided tangible cognitive advantages that help us in everyday life. As Bavelier and Green noted in the July 2016 issue of Scientific American : “Individuals who regularly play action games demonstrate improved ability to focus on visual details, useful for reading fine print in a legal document or on a prescription bottle. They also display heightened sensitivity to visual contrast, important when driving in thick fog … The multitasking required to switch back and forth between reading a menu and holding a conversation with a dinner partner also comes more easily.”

In Bavelier’s TEDxCHUV talk “ Your Brain on Video Games ,” she makes the case that playing action games like Call of Duty in reasonable doses is positively powerful. Instead of parents perceiving their kids’ virtual zombie and designated “bad” guy shooting as brainless, it should instead be viewed as brain-boosting, she claims.

Others, too, have touted the brain-related benefits of video games. For instance, researchers at UC Irvine found that 3D games can improve the functioning of the hippocampus , which is the part of the brain that’s involved with learning and memory. Meanwhile, researchers from Queen Mary University of London and University College London found that video games can aid mental agility and enhance strategic thinking . This correlates with what James Mitchell, a UX designer and avid gamer, told me when I asked how he thought video games have impacted him: “I definitely think that my critical thinking and strategy has improved, and I find it easier to predict certain movements, especially relating to other games, and even card games. I have also learned to be more unpredictable with my movements.”

Despite video game research being a recent phenomenon, it’s proven that video games do provide out-and-out brain gains—good news for those of us partial to a video game (or two, or three, or 400). They can, however, have the potential to suck us in to a degree that isn’t healthy, which could potentially manifest as video game addiction.

So what can be done so our brains benefit from +3 agility and +3 intelligence without suffering from –5 stamina? How can a healthy relationship with video games be sustained? As C. Shawn Green—who earned a PhD in brain and cognitive studies—said to WIRED: “What healthy gameplay might look like in practice may differ greatly across individuals, and across the lifespan (e.g., in children versus adults). In other words, there really aren’t any one-size-fits-all guidelines for healthy gameplay that will work for everyone-is-a-different-size human beings.” Generally speaking, though, it’s important to be aware of how gaming may impact other areas of our lives in the short and long term, Green says. “It’s a matter of thinking through the proximal and downstream consequences,” he said.

Granted, the fact that games are specifically designed to keep us playing makes following this advice harder. But by remaining cognizant of our own (and our families’) gaming habits, making sure to log off sometimes to do other things, and by ultimately playing video games in a way that doesn’t unrestrictedly keep us on the hedonic treadmill , there’s potential to leverage gaming to be mentally more resilient, quicker, and smarter IRL.

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Video Games Make You Smarter: Backed up by Research

Many people claim that video games make you smarter. However, intelligence is a broad concept, and we don’t know what effect video games have on it. Even then, lots of research has shown that video games can have a tangible impact on cognition. Let’s explore these in detail and answer the question, “Do video games make you smarter?”

Video games increase your attention span, improve decision making and problem-solving capabilities in competitive environments, and improve memory and learning. Video games improve the cognitive abilities that society values.

Take this quiz to understand your problematic relationship with video games:

Read further to learn how video games affect our cognitive capabilities.

Effect of Video Games on Attention

• A study by Green and Bavelier found that action video games enhance attentional control. According to this study, action games involve high-speed gameplay and contain objects that quickly pop in and out of the visual field. They seem to have the broadest benefits to perceptual and attentional abilities.

• Most action games require the player to keep their attention focused on specific objects or entities. These objects or entities can be presented in isolation or amongst other irrelevant distractions. As a result, action games notably boost selective attention, i.e., a person’s ability to focus on one particular stimulus.
• Gamers who play action games can track independently moving objects faster and better than non-video-game players. They demonstrate a higher degree of spatial awareness compared to their non-gamer counterparts.
• A test often used in the screening of ADD found that gamers had faster responses than those that did not play video games. Moreover, they did not sacrifice accuracy for speed. It is also important to note that the test recognized their responses as being anticipatory. That means that gamers relied on prediction rather than reaction. As a result, the study concluded that video game players are faster but not more impulsive than non-gamers.
• A study that compared 27 expert gamers with 30 amateur ones found that action games correlated with higher gray matter volume in the brain.

How Video Games Affect Memory and Learning

Memory is closely related to attention. Therefore, since games improve attention, they would have an impact on memory as well. Let’s take a look at some research.

• A study conducted by McDermott et al. compared the memory of action video game players with non-gamers. They found that action video game players excelled over non-gamers in tasks that involved retaining many memories. They also demonstrated higher precision with visual-spatial short term memory tasks.
• A study done by Ferguson, Cruz, and Rueda found that video game playing correlated positively with accuracy in visual memory. The study hypothesized that this was because video games primed the player to be sensitive to visual cues.
• According to researchers from the University of California , playing 3D video games can boost the formation of memories and improve hand-eye coordination and reaction times.
• A study conducted by Gnambs et al. found that while playing video games can result in a tiny hit to school performance, they don’t affect a child’s intelligence.
• According to some preliminary research, strategy games can increase older adults’ brain functions, and perhaps even protect against dementia and Alzheimer’s .
• A study by Lorenza et al. suggests that gaming trains the brain to be more flexible in updating and monitoring new information. Therefore, it enhances the memory capacity of gamers.

Video Games and Problem Solving

Most video games require a large amount of problem-solving. However, different games require different kinds of problem-solving.

• A l ongitudinal study conducted in 2013 found that playing strategy games correlated positively with problem-solving abilities and school grades in the following year. That means that adolescents that reported playing more strategy games tended to display better problem-solving ability.
• Scholars at Michigan State University did a study of about 500 12-year-olds. They found that the more kids played video games, the more creative they were in tasks such as drawing pictures and writing stories. However, the use of the internet, cellphones, and computers (aside from playing video games) was unrelated to creativity. Moreover, the increase in creativity was not related to whether the game was violent or non-violent.
• A University of Glasgow trial found that gaming improved communication skills, resourcefulness, and flexibility as video games increase critical thinking and reflective learning ability. These traits are central to graduates and are desirable to employers seeking to hire people out of university.

Video Games and Spatial Intelligence

Most video games, especially 3D ones, require gamers to develop excellent spatial skills to navigate complex environments. Let’s look at some studies that have looked at the relationship between video games and spatial intelligence.

• A 2007 study by Green and Bavalier found that video games significantly increased an inexperienced gamer’s ability to rotate complex shapes in their mind. It also found that subjects trained in action video games showed an increase in their ability to identify a single object, among other distracting ones.
• Another study confirmed that video game players showed a faster response time for easy and difficult visual search tasks than non-gamers.
• Avid action-video-game players were able to identify a peripheral target among many distracting objects more accurately than non-action-video-game players. The researchers showed them a sequence of objects, each of which they presented very briefly. They found that gamers were able to process this visual stream more efficiently than non-gamers. They were also able to track more objects than non-video-game-players.
• An fMRI study by Granek et al. found that extensive gaming alters the network in our brain that processes complex visual tasks. It makes the circuitry more efficient.

How Video Games Impact Decision Making

Video games, especially action games, require quick, on-the-fly decision-making capabilities. Avid gamers can make decisions under pressure. Here are some findings from relevant research.

• A study split participants aged 18 to 25 into two groups. One group played 50 hours of Call of Duty 2 and Unreal Tournament , and the other group played 50 hours of Sims 2 . The action game players made decisions 25% faster in a task unrelated to playing video games without sacrificing accuracy.
• One study explored ways to improve traditional training methods that aim to reduce people’s bias and improve their decision-making capabilities. They found that interactive video games improved general decision-making abilities both in the short term and long term. Susceptibility to bias was reduced by 31% in immediate tests, and after three months, the reduction will still more than 23%

Video Games and IQ

What is iq how much does it matter.

IQ is short for intelligence quotient. Researchers developed it to measure how well someone can use information and reasoning to answer questions or make predictions. IQ tests measure short-term and long-term memory and how quickly one can solve puzzles and recall information. It helps researchers check whether they are testing for the same “kind” of intelligence. However, it does not encapsulate the complexity of the mind. Other factors, such as social and economic status, influence IQ. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is also a significant contributor to success.

IQ is a predictor of many things, but it does not define intelligence. It is generally a good predictor of a person’s success in life since the more intelligent a person is, the more likely they are to solve problems, learn new things, and get ahead in life. However, it can only predict how well people will do in particular situations, such as science, engineering, and art. Success in life requires more than just intelligence — it depends on persistence, ambition, opportunity, and luck.

Do Video Games Increase IQ?

Games select and filter for higher fluid IQs because games adequately, intellectually challenge us as kids when school was not enough. There are studies that children crave challenge and mastery, which games provide for them, and that creates a feedback loop.

What Does the Research Say?

A study conducted at the University of York found a correlation between young people’s skill at two popular video games (Dota 2 and League of Legends) and high intelligence levels.

The study set up two groups: the first group demonstrated their skill at League of Legends and then took a standard pen-and-paper intelligence test. They split the second group into Dota 2 players and gamers who played shooting games (Destiny and Battlefield 3).

The first group found that MOBA players tended to have higher IQs – a correlation seen in more traditional strategy games such as chess. In the second group, the researchers found that while MOBA players’ performance and IQ remained consistent as they got older, while the shooter game players’ performance declined after their teens.

While games can be good at indicators of a person’s IQ, that does not necessarily mean that they boost IQ.

Does Higher IQ Correlate with Risk of Addiction?

Smarter people are more likely to get addicted to video games because they may not be adequately challenged in school or at work, and video games fulfill this need for them. To recognize and overcome gaming addiction, you need to acknowledge who you are as a gamer. Gamers are, in fact, smarter than the average person. While we value intelligence in society, being smart is not enough to be successful.

Gamers use their high IQ to justify their lack of success, and it becomes an ego boost. Therefore, high intelligence becomes a justification for not needing to work hard and aim for success in life. That is how intelligence leads to avoidance.

Check out this video in which Dr. K talks about how intelligence leads to avoidance:

Issues with Video Game Studies

Some factors that influence video game training studies might bring the accuracy of these studies into question. A paper by Boot et al. discussed game training studies that tell the participants about the nature of the study. That can easily lead to bias, as the participants know whether they are in the experimental group or the control group.

For example, let’s assume that a study that aims to test the impact of action games on decision-making recruits gamers and non-gamers. It discloses the nature and aim of the study to the participants. It also tells them whether they will be in the experimental group or the control group.

The experimental group trains on an action game while the control group trains on a strategy game. After training, the researchers administer a test to both groups. It aims to measure the speed and accuracy of their decision-making. Since both groups know the aim of the study, the experimental group believes that they will do well on the test. Therefore, it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, and they try their hardest. Meanwhile, the control group does not put in as much effort because they think that they are expected to match up to the experimental group. As a result, they don’t try hard and don’t perform too well.

Such an experiment does not control well for placebo. Unfortunately, many video game training studies are structured this way.

Intelligence is complicated and not understood very well. Therefore, it is hard to measure if video games make you smarter. However, we can measure aspects of our cognition and how video games affect it. It is also unclear to what degree video games boost our cognition. That is because they select for people whose attentional, memory, learning, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities are already above average. Despite all that, it is safe to say that gamers tend to rank higher for these cognitive abilities than the rest of the population.

If you feel that your gaming habit is affecting your life, we can help. Sign up to work with a HealthyGamer Coach, trained by Dr. Alok Kanojia himself. HealthyGamer Coaches are gamers who have taken control of their life, and know exactly what you’re going through.

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How can video games make us better people, playing video games can bring benefits..

Posted December 10, 2020

The video game industry earned $ 120 billion in 2019, according to a survey conducted by SuperData[1]. Considered the fastest-growing industry in entertainment, it earns more than cinema[2]. People who have never played video games probably know someone who has, or at least they have heard of famous characters, like Mario, Pikachu, or Lara Croft. Video games as cultural artifacts are already part of most people's culture[3].

Some games can lead the player to think about sensitive or important topics, promoting critical thinking due to the realistic and emotional position[4] in which games involve the player; empathy, as shown with the game Lemmings in a study[5] that evaluated participant’s feelings after gameplay, and even learning about socio-scientific themes, as in games that use STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education [6] approach in their narratives. Nevertheless, how does this happen?

Usually, when one starts playing a game, one assumes the role of a character. The act of playing configures an embodiment of the character of the game[7]. Therefore, video game narratives should not be considered a story to which the player relates through passive contact. On the contrary, the player has agency over the game and takes an active position facing the game mechanics' narrative when assuming a role.

Three games that lead the player to reflect based on their narratives can exemplify these ideas.

The first one is the Detroit: Become Human game released in 2018 for PlayStation 4 and developed by Quantic Dream. In this game, the player assumes three characters' roles simultaneously, alternately playing each intersecting story. By assuming their "skin," the player makes several essential decisions that involve ethical and moral issues.

For instance, two of the issues raised in the game are racism and social segregation. These themes are raised by putting the player in the role of a marginalized android with human feelings. The androids with human feelings (called divergent in the game) are marginalized in society and become a metaphor to represent real human beings who live on the edge of society without opportunities to change their lives.

The narrative can lead the player to think and project real-world situations that involve these themes, based on the reflexive movement caused by each decision made in the game. In a specific moment of the game, for example, the player has to decide whether to lead a violent revolution to make the marginalized group of androids accepted in the society or achieve this peacefully. It is important to highlight that the moral dilemmas presented in the game do not intend to judge or evaluate the player's decision. The central point is how one can mobilize psychological mechanisms to make such a decision and impact the player's real life.

Besides, how the decision-making process can occur when moral issues are involved, as noted by some researchers. For example, a study published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking [8] investigated how people made moral choices in the game Fallout 3. According to the outcomes, most of the players made moral decisions related to non-player characters as if there were actual interactions with them. This can show that during gameplay, players can act based on imaginative situations in real life.

The second example is the game Parasite Eve , released in 1998 by SquareSoft. In this game, the player takes on the role of Aya Brea, an American police officer who must investigate an intriguing case of spontaneous combustion that happens on Christmas Eve in a New York theatre. Based on an eponymous Japanese novel, the plot is permeated with scientific questions, having its narrative inspired by the Mitochondrial Eve theory, which states that we all have a common ancestor. In the context of the game, the player faces ethical-scientific dilemmas while in the main character's role and discovers how some people were used as guinea pigs in an experiment without proper authorization and based on scientific research development guided by personal interests.

Third, in the video game The Last of Us (parts 1 and 2), developed by Naughty Dog for PlayStation 3 (2013) and 4 (2020), the player is placed in a post-apocalyptic world, devastated by the fungus Cordyceps ophioglossoides. This fungus infection transforms those infected into deformed creatures that roam the world. The plot, apparently cliché, is composed of exciting arcs in which, once again, it leads the player to think about essential themes that parallel with the real world.

A specific part of the game reveals that one of the characters is gay, and in some moments of the narrative, the character faces homophobia from others. Different from movies in which homophobia is also represented, but the gay character is only watched by the audience, in this game, the player is embodied in the character and has to deal with homophobia, talking to other characters who care about her/him and facing this issue that is also represented by one of the antagonist groups of the game (the Serafitas).

The examples cited above show how some video games go beyond formats for storytelling. They also allow a narrative immersion that leads the player to reflect on important issues in society, drawing parallels with the real world. This reflection may be associated with the fact that the video game allows the player to incorporate a character, changing the “I-position." The player becomes an extension of the character, "experiencing" the game's narrative situations. Due to the narrative immersion, such incorporation is a specific characteristic of video games, not observed, for example, in cinema.

For this reason, video games have arisen as research interests in the field of psychology in order to investigate and understand how some games have an absolute potential to promote a change in attitude in people[9]. Moreover, shifting from the stereotype that games can make people more violent to games can make them better[10].

[1] Available at: superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/ Accessed November 26th 2020

[2] Available at: https://www.ejinsight.com/eji/article/id/2280405/20191022-video-game-in… Accessed November 26th 2020

[3] de Oliveira, R. D. V. L., & da Silva, J. R. R. T. (2019). Jogos digitais como arte na interface entre educação científica e educação em direitos humanos: reflexões e possibilidades. Revista Eletrônica Ludus Scientiae, 3(2).

[4] Del-Moral, M. E., & RodrÍguez-GonzÁlez, C. (2020). War Video Games: Edu-communicative Platforms to Develop Critical Thinking against War?. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH), 13(4), 1-13

[5] Greitemeyer, T., Osswald, S., & Brauer, M. (2010). Playing prosocial video games increases empathy and decreases schadenfreude. Emotion, 10(6), 796

[6] Gao, F., Li, L., & Sun, Y. (2020). A systematic review of mobile game-based learning in STEM education. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68(4), 1791-1827

[7] Arsenault, D. (2006). Jeux et enjeux du récit vidéoludique: la narration dans le jeu vidéo (Doctoral dissertation, Université de Montréal).

[8] Weaver, A. J., & Lewis, N. (2012). Mirrored morality: An exploration of moral choice in video games. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(11), 610-614.

[9] Baranowski, T., Buday, R., Thompson, D. I., & Baranowski, J. (2008). Playing for real: video games and stories for health-related behavior change. American journal of preventive medicine, 34(1), 74-82.

[10] Griffiths, M. D. (2019). The therapeutic and health benefits of playing video games. In The Oxford handbook of cyberpsychology.

João R. R. T. da Silva, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in Science Education at Federal University of Pernambuco, Caruaru, Brazil.

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Monday, October 24, 2022

Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

Additional research necessary to parse potential benefits and harms of video games on the developing brain.

On Monday, April 10, 2023, a Notice of Retraction and Replacement published for the article featured below . The key findings remain the same. The press release has been updated, in line with the retracted and replacement article, to clarify that attention problems, depression symptoms, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) scores were significantly higher among children who played three hours per day or more compared to children who had never played video games.

A study of nearly 2,000 children found that those who reported playing video games for three hours per day or more performed better on cognitive skills tests involving impulse control and working memory compared to children who had never played video games. Published today in JAMA Network Open , this study analyzed data from the ongoing  Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study , which is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and other entities of the National Institutes of Health.

“This study adds to our growing understanding of the associations between playing video games and brain development,” said NIDA Director Nora Volkow, M.D. “Numerous studies have linked video gaming to behavior and mental health problems. This study suggests that there may also be cognitive benefits associated with this popular pastime, which are worthy of further investigation.”

Although a number of studies have investigated the relationship between video gaming and cognitive behavior, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the associations are not well understood. Only a handful of neuroimaging studies have addressed this topic, and the sample sizes for those studies have been small, with fewer than 80 participants.

To address this research gap, scientists at the University of Vermont, Burlington, analyzed data obtained when children entered the ABCD Study at ages 9 and 10 years old. The research team examined survey, cognitive, and brain imaging data from nearly 2,000 participants from within the bigger study cohort. They separated these children into two groups, those who reported playing no video games at all and those who reported playing video games for three hours per day or more. This threshold was selected as it exceeds the American Academy of Pediatrics screen time guidelines , which recommend that videogaming time be limited to one to two hours per day for older children. For each group, the investigators evaluated the children’s performance on two tasks that reflected their ability to control impulsive behavior and to memorize information, as well as the children’s brain activity while performing the tasks.

The researchers found that the children who reported playing video games for three or more hours per day were faster and more accurate on both cognitive tasks than those who never played. They also observed that the differences in cognitive function observed between the two groups was accompanied by differences in brain activity. Functional MRI brain imaging analyses found that children who played video games for three or more hours per day showed higher brain activity in regions of the brain associated with attention and memory than did those who never played. At the same time, those children who played at least three hours of videogames per day showed more brain activity in frontal brain regions that are associated with more cognitively demanding tasks and less brain activity in brain regions related to vision.  

The researchers think these patterns may stem from practicing tasks related to impulse control and memory while playing videogames, which can be cognitively demanding, and that these changes may lead to improved performance on related tasks. Furthermore, the comparatively low activity in visual areas among children who reported playing video games may reflect that this area of the brain may become more efficient at visual processing as a result of repeated practice through video games.

While prior studies have reported associations between video gaming and increases in violence and aggressive behavior, this study did not find that to be the case. Though children who reported playing video games for three or more hours per day scored higher on measures of attention problems, depression symptoms, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared to children who played no video games, the researchers found that these mental health and behavioral scores did not reach clinical significance in either group, meaning, they did not meet the thresholds for risk of problem behaviors or clinical symptoms. The authors note that these will be important measures to continue to track and understand as the children mature.

Further, the researchers stress that this cross-sectional study does not allow for cause-and-effect analyses, and that it could be that children who are good at these types of cognitive tasks may choose to play video games. The authors also emphasize that their findings do not mean that children should spend unlimited time on their computers, mobile phones, or TVs, and that the outcomes likely depend largely on the specific activities children engage in. For instance, they hypothesize that the specific genre of video games, such as action-adventure, puzzle solving, sports, or shooting games, may have different effects for neurocognitive development, and this level of specificity on the type of video game played was not assessed by the study.

“While we cannot say whether playing video games regularly caused superior neurocognitive performance, it is an encouraging finding, and one that we must continue to investigate in these children as they transition into adolescence and young adulthood,” said Bader Chaarani, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont and the lead author on the study. “Many parents today are concerned about the effects of video games on their children’s health and development, and as these games continue to proliferate among young people, it is crucial that we better understand both the positive and negative impact that such games may have.”

Through the ABCD Study, researchers will be able to conduct similar analyses for the same children over time into early adulthood, to see if changes in video gaming behavior are linked to changes in cognitive skills, brain activity, behavior, and mental health. The longitudinal study design and comprehensive data set will also enable them to better account for various other factors in the children’s families and environment that may influence their cognitive and behavioral development, such as exercise, sleep quality, and other influences.

The ABCD Study, the largest of its kind in the United States, is tracking nearly 12,000 youth as they grow into young adults. Investigators regularly measure participants’ brain structure and activity using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and collect psychological, environmental, and cognitive information, as well as biological samples. The goal of the study is to understand the factors that influence brain, cognitive, and social-emotional development, to inform the development of interventions to enhance a young person’s life trajectory.

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study and ABCD Study are registered service marks and trademarks, respectively, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

About the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy, improve practice, and advance addiction science. For more information about NIDA and its programs, visit www.nida.nih.gov .

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov .

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  B Chaarani, et al.  Association of video gaming with cognitive performance among children .  JAMA Open Network.  DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.35721 (2022).

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Arts on the Brain

Emory undergrads experience & explore!

Video games on the Brain

Technology has expanded the canvas upon an artist’s ability to express their stories. Videogames prove to be an art form that can solely exist in the digital space and demonstrates a collision of art and science. Our brain interprets these artists’ creations in many ways, both presenting itself as beneficial, yet also damaging to the brain. Video games have both positive and negative effects on the brain, as they can be used for education purposes or can have more drastic consequences. 

When overviewing the positive effects of videogames on the brain there are some main areas of the brain to focus upon: premotor and parietal cortex, prefrontal cortex, dopamine and grey matter. Cognitively, all video games are proven to improve one’s problem solving ability as well as reasoning capabilities. 

Different types of video games develop different skills as well as activate different parts of the brain. More broadly speaking, games that require team efforts help develop collaboration abilities. Other action focused video games have the ability to increase brain activity in the premotor and parietal cortex, where motor skills, quick thinking, and control of sensory movements are required. These same video games have the ability to physically improve one’s peripheral vision as well as hand-eye coordination. Examples of these types of games include Space Invaders and Halo. Games that require more logical thinking, such as Tetris, display an increased use of the prefrontal cortex, where decision-making is controlled. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is released when learning and activates sensations of reward. In the context of playing video games, dopamine is released in the brain’s striatum, invoking senses of pleasure and addiction. 

For the sake of this post, I’ll be emphasising my focus on experiments regarding grey matter. Grey matter helps process information in the brain, by more specifically processing signals that are generated by other sensory organs in the body or other areas which contain grey matter. This grey matter serves to move motor sensory stimuli to nerve cells in the nervous system. There, synapses produce a response to the certain stimuli. Hippocampal grey matter, more specifically, is crucial for the maintenance of healthy cognition. One experiment demonstrated how playing video games has the potential to increase hippocampal grey matter in young adolescents. This experiment tested the influence of the video game Super Mario Kart on the grey matter in the hippocampal and cerebral region of adolescents. 

Figure 1: Demonstrates the increase of grey matter in the hippocampal region.

As seen in the brain scan it is apparent that there is a great increase of grey matter in the brain of the adults immediately after playing the video game. 

Though there are positive effects apparent when playing video games, some of the negative impacts outweigh those of the positive. More broadly speaking, some of the negative effects that videogames can have on the brain is that of the “video game brain.” This effect occurs when one has dedicated so much time to video games that the underside of the frontal lobe begins to shrink, leasing to other symptoms such as mood alterations. With more frequency of playing video games, a visible decrease in activity in the prefrontal lobe is apparent. This is known to lead to symptoms such as increased moodiness, anxiety, and aggressiveness, which may occur even after the conclusion of the game itself.

For the sake of this post, I will be focusing the spectrum of my research to the cingulate cortices. Studies have demonstrated that even one week of violent video gaming can lead to a decreased activation of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala, during both numerical and emotional tasks. Both of which areas are utilized in solving and controlling emotional confliction. This frequent play of violent aggressive video games lead to symptoms such as players being relatively more anxious, spike in increases of violent-related and aggressive behaviors for the short and long term period. In the study, it was noted that when players shot and fired a weapon in violent video game play, there was a suppression of emotional response in these areas to cope with their actions afterwards. This is seen in the posterior cingulate cortex, which serves for motor control, cognition, and planning activated by emotions, or in this case weapon usage. Some video games that can demonstrate these effects on humans are Fornite and Call of Duty.

“Choosing to attack is associated with greater activity in the posterior anterior cingulate cortex, while choosing to defend was associated with activity in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex .” As demonstrated in the figure above, specific brain regions are active when choosing an attack or defend strategy. 

One of my favorite video games to play at the moment is Among Us. Among Us is a Social Deduction Game where one imposter tries to kill all the crewmates on board without exposing their identity. If seen killing, crewmates can report the killer and vote out the imposter. The crewmates are responsible for finishing as many simple tasks as they possibly can. Some of the brain functions involved in the game vary depending on the position you are assigned at the beginning of the game: crewmate or imposter. 

When playing the game Among Us strategies of how to operate are required, utilizing the frontal lobe to map out one’s judgement and impulse control. Controlling sensory movements in this action-filled game is crucial. Secondly, there is violence present in this game. So those in the positions of imposters will experience different activities in their brain than those who are crewmates. After the killing of a crewmate, the person playing the imposter will experience a suppression of emotional response after their killing, more specifically suppressed in the rostral angular cortex and the amygdala. Whereas the crewmate on the opposite hand, will feel emotions of reward and pleasure upon completion of their tasks and calling out those who may seem suspicious during the play of the game. This releases dopamine through the brian’s striatum. All in all, videogames all impact the players brain in different ways, having both positive and negative effects upon one’s cognition.

Works Cited:

Itgsnewsauthor. How Gaming Affects the Brain . 4 July 2015, 

www.itgsnews.com/how-gaming-affects-brain/. 

Izaak. (2020, September 22). How to play Among Us: Beginner’s guide, tutorial, and 

frequently asked questions. Retrieved November 01, 2020, from 

https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/how-play-among-us-beginner-s-guide-tutorial-fr

equently-asked-questions

Melissinos, Chris. Video Games Are One of the Most Important Art Forms in History . 22 Sept. 

2015, time.com/collection-post/4038820/chris-melissinos-are-video-games-art/. 

Palaus, Marc, et al. Neural Basis of Video Gaming: A Systematic Review . 22 May 2017, 

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5438999/. 

Robertson, Sally. What Is Grey Matter? 23 Aug. 2018, 

www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Grey-Matter.aspx. 

Staff, Science X. Brain: A ‘Cingular’ Strategy for Attack and Defense . 20 Apr. 2015, 

medicalxpress.com/news/2015-04-brain-cingular-strategy-defense.html. 

West, Greg L., et al. Playing Super Mario 64 Increases Hippocampal Grey Matter in Older 

Adults . journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0187779. 

6 Comments Add yours

I really enjoyed your post! Although I don’t play video games that often, I definitely liked learning about how and why they activate different parts of the brain. I knew that playing lots of video games can be unhealthy for our minds and physical bodies, however, I didn’t realize that they could entirely shrink our frontal lobes in severe situations. I also enjoyed reading about the Among Us portion in your post as I might have had a slight obsession with it last month. I never even realized all the intricate connections between doing small tasks in an online game and how they affect different parts of my brain. Great read!

Hi Lyla, I love your post so much! It was well written and also intriguing. The strucure of this post was so clear that I could see an introduction, a positive effect part, a negative effect part, and a conclusion. When trying to explain some professional and biological stuffs, you perfectly used great and clear pictures to illustrate the explanation. Just as what Rishika said, I knew that it was definitely unhealthy for one who plays lots of video games, I failed to realize that video games could cause such severe situation such as shrinking the frontal lobes. Thanks you so much for bringing such good work to me!

Wow! Though I have heard of many of the positive effects of playing video games that you touched on like increased problem-solving skills and increased ability to work in teams, I had not heard much about the possible negative effects of gaming. In my experience, many negative claims I have heard about video games are brushed to the side and seen as a misunderstanding from an older, less informed generation. It was interesting to see activation in the posterior cingulate cortex as shown in figure 2, highlighting how the attack portion is activated during in-game attacks. Still, it was very cool to see both positive and negative effects explored in this post!

Hi Lyla, this is such an interesting post about arts and brain! I am also a player of both Mario and Among Us, and I really agree with your argument about the effect of the video game. Before reading your post, I haven’t realized how my brain would be affected by those video games and simply thought games could increase my brain activity. Now I get to know the specific areas like grey matter and frontal lobe will be impacted by the stimulus from games. It reminds me the reason why teenagers should not play too many video games. Proper time management on playing games can reduce the shrink on our frontal lobe, thus help maintain a normal function of controlling emotions and decision making. Thank you for posting it!

I really enjoyed this post and found it super relevant considering how much time people spend playing video games today. It was really interesting to hear about the different kinds of effects, both positive and negative, that video games can have on our brains. It seems to be important to find a balance so that one does not spend too much playing them. It may even be beneficial for someone to mix up what type of games they are playing so that the negative effects are less harmful. Overall, this was super interesting to read!

I really enjoyed reading this post and found it super relevant considering how much time people spend playing video games today. It was really interesting to hear about the different kinds of effects, both positive and negative, that video games can have on our brains. It seems to be important to find a balance so that one does not spend too much playing them. It may even be beneficial for someone to mix up what type of games they are playing so that the negative effects are less harmful. Overall, this was super interesting to read!

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Can playing video games improve cognition and adaptability?

A recent study by ADL with Sheppard Air Force Base has shown that a video game having specific design features (i.e., implicit rules, implicit rule changes, dynamic shifting environments, open endedness, and implicit feedback) can enhance specific cognitive capabilities after playing for 12 consecutive hours as compared to games without those features. This was determined by having airmen play either Portal 2™ (a game that has the design features) or Windows 7 Microsoft™ games (Solitaire, Minesweeper, Mahjong, and Hearts, all games lacking the five design features) bookended by pre- and post-play cognitive testing. Those playing Portal 2™ scored significantly higher on focused attention – in both signal detection (correctly recognizing and interpreting the information) and response latency (the amount of time taken to respond to the information). Scoring higher on these tests means that one can more easily and quickly detect what’s important from what isn’t important when solving problems.

Another very interesting finding was that playing video games for 19 hours a week or more may significantly increase cognitive capabilities in the areas of spatial working memory, spatial sequencing, and cognitive planning. This was discovered by grouping test results by those who identified themselves as playing 19 hours of video games per week (high gamers) or those playing less than that (low gamers). The differences on the cognitive tests were all significant (p=.001, p=.003, p=.001) with increased scores in high gamers. In other words, this means that playing video games seems to enhance spatial abilities such as remembering and tracking objects in space – i.e., creating a cognitive map – as well as the processes involved in the formulation, evaluation, and selection of a sequence of thoughts and actions to achieve a desired goal.

Why do we care? Spatial abilities are important in navigating from one place to another in the virtual or the real world – driving in traffic, getting to the office, going home; or if you’re a lab rat, learning the location of food at the end of a maze. However, they are also frequently noted as important to language acquisition and mathematical comprehension, and are important components of higher order thinking skills such as problem solving and critical thinking (Osberg, 1997). Cognitive planning makes use of these abilities as an individual thinks through the steps and sequence of steps to solve problems. This is a critical skill to reason out problem solutions and evaluate results, and supports cognitive adaptability as one mentally “tries out” various solutions to a novel problem before acting. An increase in spatial abilities and cognitive planning in combination with an increase in quality and quickness of signal detection, suggests that frequency of video game playing generally, as well as specifically playing games with the above mentioned features, can increase cognitive capabilities in the players and specifically those capabilities important to being cognitively adaptable.

Osberg, K. (1997). Spatial cognition in the Virtual Environment. Seattle: University of Washington.

Most Anticipated 2021 Video Games to Boost Critical Thinking & Reflective Learning Skills

Soft skills are of huge importance in the modern world. If you want to be ambitious, learn fast, beat competitors, and generally succeed in this world, two crucial skills you are always going to need are critical thinking and reflective learning.

Why is that? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that more and more people are struggling with finding their passion, dream job, and similar choices in life. Critical thinking and learning from your past experiences efficiently can help improve this situation. There is much to explore in this field and there are tons of critical thinking topics to use as perfect examples to learn from. Checking out what professional essays on critical thinking have to say about the matter is the perfect way to learn and start on the right track.

Another amazing way to improve these skills is through video games. The ones listed here are some of the best upcoming games that you can expect in 2021. They are highly addictive, perfect for enhancing the mentioned skills, and a great way to have fun.

Humankind is one of the most anticipated games of 2021, at least for fans of the strategy genre. Taking a page out of Civilization’s book, this game focuses on building your own civilization, and controlling the way in which it develops. You can choose to improve the civilization’s education by building a school or try to live out your imperialistic dreams by investing in military research. You will have to make a lot of strategic decisions , and your critical thinking skills will be put to the test. But if you aren’t very good at first, don’t be discouraged, as with time, you will find that this game will be very beneficial for your critical thinking and reflective learning skills. I get excited just writing about it, and so should you, or your brain, at least.

Surviving the Aftermath

Surviving the Aftermath is not one of the most talked-about upcoming Xbox games, but it certainly looks like it has a lot of potential, so it’s fair that we write about it, especially since we’re talking about games that can boost your brain capabilities. Thinking about a tutor you hate, or sitting in class in college, can sometimes make you wish the world ended. Well, with Surviving the Aftermath, your wish is granted, and you are responsible to lead a group of colonists in an effort to save humankind. We could write an entire essay on all that this game has to offer, but for now, let’s just say that your brain will have to be focused at all times, as you will have to make split-second decisions that will not only challenge you but also improve your decision making, especially when you get to see the consequences of those decisions, which can sometimes be fatal for humanity.

Age of Empires 4

This is easily one of the most popular upcoming games for 2021 as the legendary Age of Empires series will finally be continued. Unlike Humankind, where you get to develop your entire civilization from scratch, from finding a settlement to becoming an academic superpower, in Age of Empires, your goal is to gather resources and build a powerful nation, with the added twist of having an enemy trying to do the same and destroy you. This kind of pressure will require you to use every last brain cell, as every small mistake can be devastating for your prosperous nation. But excitement is not the only thing that people get out of playing Age of Empires as many players have stated that playing the game has significantly improved their decision-making, problem-solving skills, and reflective learning skills.

With all of these brain-enhancing games coming out in 2021, you can feel better about yourself about missing that physics lesson that one time, as you can make it up by playing one of these games that we mentioned. Maybe if you’re still a student, you can even stop going to classes altogether, and play them the entire day. Just kidding, of course, stay in school!

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How Playing Video Games Improves Critical Thinking

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Home » Wellness » How Playing Video Games Improves Critical Thinking

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This post is about how playing video games improves critical thinking plus more.

Find out how video games help improve your mental capacity.

Generally, when we think about exercising, we tend to focus on appearance.

However, exercising the mind is just as important.

• Video Games Helps Exercise The Mind

Playing Video Games Helps With Analytical Thinking

Complicated video game forces the mind to face and overcome challenges, video game players develop problem-solving skills, also, video game players develop a faster reaction to sporadic events, playing video games improves memory, playing video games helps exercise the mind.

The mind is a delicate yet powerful part of the human anatomy and like any other muscle, it requires exercise for continuous improvement.

In general, playing video games can help one exercise their mind.

In fact, this is especially popular amongst Millennials.

It is easy to dismiss video games as a child plaything.

However, that’s hardly the case considering the level of analytical thinking some video games require for a player to win.

While some video games are simple, some are complicated. The simple games don’t pose a challenge.

However, some thinking is still required to win.

Complicated video games, on the other hand, require analytical thinking and the implementation of an elaborate and effective strategy to win.

Without an effective strategy, video game obstacles can prevent a player from getting to the next level.

Consequently, the player has to think of all possible solutions to create a strategy.

The video game players who are able to analyze each obstacle effectively and make the best moves are usually the top winners.

Complex and complicated video games are great for increasing one’s problem-solving skills, analytical and strategizing abilities.

The sporadic nature of video games can catch players off guard, forcing players to think on their feet in order to conquer the game.

In the real world, having the ability to take control of an unforeseen event immediately is important.

Fortunately, for gamers, playing video games improves one’s capability to make effective decisions in a fast pace environment.

Generally, advancing in video games requires a player to memorize certain events that happened in the course of the video game in order to proceed to the next level.

So it’s fair to conclude playing complicated video games improves memory.

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Video Games In Moderation

Playing video games is one out of many ways to improve one’s mental capabilities, however, playing video games is most effective when done in moderation.