A study that was led by Western University shows that video games boost your cognitive abilities.
The findings were part of a brain and body study in collaboration with the Science and Industry Museum for the Manchester Science Festival. More than 2,000 participants from around the world had partaken in the study. The study consisted of a lifestyle survey as well as online brain games that accurately measure different parts of human cognition including memory, attention, reasoning and verbal abilities.
The study was led by western Neuroscientist Adrian Owen, and revealed that around 1,000 people who finished all their given tasks, showed playing video games had a positive effect on their cognition.
Adam Boyce a team leader for the popular game Valorant for Fanshawe’s Esports league FUEL, had given his opinion on what he thinks as a video game player about the study.
FUEL Gaming Setup
“I think it makes sense, there’s a lot of visual stimulations from the game and a lot of the games we play have a lot of tactical aspects to it and there’s also problem solving so I get it. Even with children when they approach problem solving in different ways helps, so I think those skills can transfer a lot in the real world.”
Boyce finished with if he had ultimately agreed with the study at the end of the day.
“Absolutely I do. Like I was saying before, anything that your doing that’s new, if it’s challenging to you and it’s engaging your brain then that’s helping your mental functions grow. It doesn’t matter how old you are as you age, It’s good to continue to try and do new things.”
More details of the findings will be presented by Owen at the Science and Industry Museum on Oct. 19, at the Manchester Science Festival which runs from Oct. 18 to Oct. 27. The Western team will be inviting festival fans to help them in a pilot study to take a look at short-term improvements to cognition as a result to gaming.
