December 22, 2024

Improved Attention and Memory: Scientists Uncover New Cognitive Benefits of Video Games

Credit: SciTechDaily.comNew research exposes that regular video game gamers exhibited improved performance in cognitive tasks related to attention and memory.A brand-new research study, published in the British Psychological Societys British Journal of Psychology, reveals that regular players show improved efficiency in jobs evaluating cognitive functions, consisting of attention and memory.The research study, which took place at the Lero Esports Science Research Lab at the University of Limerick, included 88 young adults, half of whom regularly played more than 7 hours of action-based video games each week.Participants were tested with 3 tasks determining different aspects of their cognitive performance– a simple response time test, a job that involved switching in between reacting to mixes of letters and numbers to assess executive function and working memory, and a maze-based activity to examine visuospatial memory.The researchers found that routine players were able to complete the number-letter job and the labyrinth task 12.7 and 17.4 % quicker respectively than the group of non-gamers. Cognitive Benefits and Implications” The routine playing of video games is typically criticized and seen as unhealthy, but our research study shows that players might delight in some cognitive advantages over the wider population, especially relating to listening and memory,” according to Dr Adam Toth of University of Limerick and Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, and one of the authors of the research.A brand-new study by a team at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, published in the British Journal of Psychology, discovered that routine gamers performed better on tasks measuring cognitive functions such as attention and memory.” The research likewise examined a more angle– whether players are less prone to suffering from cognitive tiredness than the broader population.Some individuals were designated an extra task, developed to need concentration for a long period of time and bring about cognitive tiredness (decline in performance), before being reevaluated on the preliminary cognitive tests.The researchers discovered that gamers and non-gamers saw their efficiency decrease at the exact same rate, with no significant distinction discovered in the level of cognitive tiredness experienced.Reference: “Comparing the cognitive performance of action video game players and age-matched controls following a cognitively fatiguing task: A phase 2 registered report” by Mark J. Campbell, Sarah C. Cregan, John M. Joyce, Magdalena Kowal and Adam J. Toth, 23 December 2023, British Journal of Psychology.DOI: 10.1111/ bjop.12692.