Contrary to what parents have argued for decades, scientists now say that people who play video games are better at making quick decisions than people who don’t play them. The new study found that an important part of the brains of these players tends to light up while playing. The US-based researchers also suggested that playing video games could be used as a technique to train people in perceptual decision-making.
This refers to the everyday practice where people take in information through their various senses and use it to make decisions.
For example, a driver would use perceptual decision making when driving on the road at night when a dark object is coming towards him.
Lead researcher Professor Mukeshwar Dhamala of Georgia State University said: “Video games are played by the vast majority of our young people for more than three hours a week, but the beneficial effects on decision-making ability and the brain are not precisely known.
“Our work answers that.
“Playing video games can be used effectively for training — for example, efficiency training for decision-making and therapeutic interventions — once the relevant brain networks have been identified.”
For the study, the participants lay in an MRI scanning machine with a mirror that allowed them to see a signal immediately followed by a display of moving dots.
The 47 participants were all university age and 28 of them were avid gamers, while the other 19 did not play them.
They were asked to press a button in their left or right hand to indicate which direction the dots were moving and not to press a button if nothing moved.
READ MORE: Solar Storm Warning: Sun Explosions Could Cause Railroad Chaos
“These findings begin to clarify how playing video games alters the brain to improve task performance and their potential implications for increasing task-specific activity.
“This lack of a compromise between speed and accuracy would indicate that playing video games is a good candidate for cognitive training when it comes to decision making.”
The study’s lead author, Tim Jordan, is a strong example of the benefits of gaming.
As a child, Mr. Jordan had poor vision in one eye, for which he was asked to cover his good eye and play video games to enhance the vision of his bad eye.
He says it has helped him go from being legally blind in that eye to being able to play lacrosse and paintball and work as a postdoctoral researcher.