While some parents worry that their kids may suffer negative effects from playing video games, a recent study funded by the National Institutes of Health suggests that gaming may actually improve kids’ cognitive abilities and help them better manage their impulses. On Monday, the study was released in the online edition of JAMA Network Open.
While comparable results have been found in other studies, this one features the largest sample size of youngsters to date. It was discovered that youngsters who played video games for three hours or more per day outperformed their peers who did not play video games at all on tests measuring memory and impulse control. In addition, the gamers showed increased activity in the regions of the brain responsible for concentration as well as active memory.
The study authors concede, however, that they did not uncover direct causal proof linking playing video games with better brain function. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, the biggest long study of cognitive development & child well-being in the country, provided data on approximately 2,000 children aged 9 and 10 for this study. Bader Chaarani, the study’s lead author, said that they took demographics into account. Researchers discovered that gamers not only outperformed the general population on tests but also showed increased activity in brain regions associated with focus and working memory.
In this latest study, kids were split into two categories: those who played video games for more than three hours each day and those who never played video games. While receiving neuroimaging, each group was given a test of impulse control and another of short-term memory. While Chaarani observed that most children favored fast-paced shooting and action adventure video games over slower-paced logical video games such as puzzles, the survey did not differentiate between the sorts of video games played. One lesson to be learned is that perhaps parents should encourage their children to play video games instead of watching television.
