Abstract
Could video games improve kids’ brains? A new study published in JAMA suggests that there may be cognitive benefits associated with the popular pastime, Medical Xpress reported Oct. 29. For the new research, lead author Bader Chaarani, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont, and colleagues analyzed data from the large and ongoing Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health. They looked at survey answers, cognitive test results, and brain images from around 2,000 children ages 9 and 10 who were separated into two groups: those who never played games, and those who played for three hours or more a day. As the children performed tasks, the children's brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Video gamers’ brains showed more activity in regions associated with attention and memory. “The results raise the intriguing possibility that video gaming may provide a cognitive training experience with measurable neurocognitive effects,” the authors concluded. Right now, it's not possible to know whether better cognitive performance drives more gaming, or is its result, said Chaarani. The team hopes to get a clearer answer as the study continues and they look again at the same children at older ages.
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