New Study Links Gaming to Better Memory
A study from the Spanish institution Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has found that playing video games during childhood can improve your working memory later in life, the latest in a number of studies that suggest playing video games has measurable effects on the brain.
Video games are still a relatively new medium, but scientists have been researching the impact of our favourite pass-time with increasingly interesting results. Many games already employ a lot of psychological tools as part of their design philosophy to keep us playing, specifically in the way they increase in difficulty, offering a constant sense of achievement. As Dr Marc Palaus notes “Video games are a perfect recipe for strengthening our cognitive skills, almost without our noticing.”
This recent study, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, tested people who had been avid gamers as children and those who hadn’t, putting them through a number of memory based challenges. The researchers found that those with gaming experience performed better in the tests, showing a greater ability to mentally hold and manipulate information.
After the initial testing, the study group then went through a month of video game training using the classic Super Mario 64. Following their adventures as the plucky plumber, the group were tested again and both gamers and non gamers now showed similar results – suggesting that at least in the short term, playing the game had levelled the playing field.
Of course this is just one study, and video games have certainly come a long way since Super Mario 64, it would be interesting to see if the results would change if the test group were instead subjected to a month of Fall Guys for example! However, this is just the latest study to show the links between video games and our brain chemistry, a growing body of work proving that video games are so much more than mindless entertainment.
In what ways has gaming improved your life? Let us know in the comments!