Parents have long thought that kids shouldn’t play too many video games because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up ruining their cognitive abilities. However, a recent study has shown that playing video games could have the exact opposite effect. It might actually make kids smarter than might have been the case otherwise since it develops their cognition in a unique way that promotes intellectual growth.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a new study that analyzed brain scans which was published in JAMA Network Open shed some light on the matter at hand. Children who played video games turned out to have improved attention spans, and it also resulted in better memory recall and visual recognition.
The way this study worked was that two sets of children were hooked up to an MRI machine and they were given two separate tasks that they needed to perform. The first tasked involved controlling inhibitions and the second was all about how well their memory functioned.
Children who played video games for up to three hours a day showed improved reflexes and faster reaction times with all things having been considered and taken into account. The study tried to control for video watching in order to get better results, and the gamers still managed to outperform their non-gamer counterparts in all of the tests that had been conducted.
One thing that might impact the findings of this study is the genre of the video game. Different genres might product entirely different results, but in spite of the fact that this is the case this study definitely shows that playing video games is not a bad thing for children at least in terms of cognitive advancement. While it’s not a good idea to let them get addicted and play all day long, it can be a reasonable pastime activity that actually promotes a healthy brain which might come in handy in many different ways as they grow into adulthood and become independent.
Read next: 66% of Americans Got Hacked While Playing Video Games According to This Report
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a new study that analyzed brain scans which was published in JAMA Network Open shed some light on the matter at hand. Children who played video games turned out to have improved attention spans, and it also resulted in better memory recall and visual recognition.
The way this study worked was that two sets of children were hooked up to an MRI machine and they were given two separate tasks that they needed to perform. The first tasked involved controlling inhibitions and the second was all about how well their memory functioned.
Children who played video games for up to three hours a day showed improved reflexes and faster reaction times with all things having been considered and taken into account. The study tried to control for video watching in order to get better results, and the gamers still managed to outperform their non-gamer counterparts in all of the tests that had been conducted.
One thing that might impact the findings of this study is the genre of the video game. Different genres might product entirely different results, but in spite of the fact that this is the case this study definitely shows that playing video games is not a bad thing for children at least in terms of cognitive advancement. While it’s not a good idea to let them get addicted and play all day long, it can be a reasonable pastime activity that actually promotes a healthy brain which might come in handy in many different ways as they grow into adulthood and become independent.
Read next: 66% of Americans Got Hacked While Playing Video Games According to This Report
