Those who frequently played complex 3D video games performed better at memory tasks related to the hippocampus than those who did not play video games or those who played only simple 2D games.
The study also showed that when non-gamers played a complex 3D game each day for 30 minutes, their memory improved over time. As a person ages, their memory naturally declines. On top of improving your spatial memory, playing video games also helps you visualize space better.
A study from the American Psychological Association showed that shooter video games improve how you think about objects in three dimensions.
Gamers are better at judging distances between objects or mentally rotating objects to imagine how they might fit into a space. This enhanced spatial visualization has practical benefits, like knowing whether you will be able to parallel park in a tight spot or organizing your closet, so everything fits. Good spatial visualization is also essential for success in many STEM careers.
When faced with a complex environment with competing stimuli, your brain creates a perceptual template that helps you determine what is important and what is not. This perceptual template enables you to assess and respond to a situation. This type of improvement in perception is especially beneficial, as it is not task-specific but can apply to any situation.
High-action video games can also improve your ability to distinguish patterns and different shades of gray. Scientists used to believe your ability to distinguish contrast was not something that could improve, however, research from the University of Rochester showed gamers who played about 5.
This improved perception has valuable real-life benefits, such as being able to keep track of your friends better in a crowd or find something you have dropped in the grass. Fast-paced video games like Need For Speed or Call of Duty require you to stay on your toes and make decisions quickly.
These energizing action games can also improve your ability to make game-time decisions in real life. A study from the University of Rochester showed gamers who love action games could make accurate choices more quickly than non-gamers or those who play slow-paced video games. Their study tested participants in both visual and audio decision-making tasks.
While all groups performed at about the same accuracy, the action gamer group completed the tasks up to 25 percent faster. Faster decision-making is beneficial in everyday life, as you can accomplish more when you make trivial decisions quickly.
Instead of wasting time debating what shirt to wear, you can get real work done. Making decisions quickly can also have more serious implications. Just like being faced with an ambush in a shooter game, quick decisions are important when facing a dangerous situation in real life, such as a car that might hit you on the highway. Video games can also improve decision-making as it relates to long-term planning. When playing strategy games like Civilization or SimCity, you have to plan ahead and make decisions now that will benefit you down the road.
These games train your brain to recognize potential outcomes and implications of your choices to make the best choices for your desired result. When a person practices these skills in a virtual world, they will be able to better apply them in the real world.
Strategic and role-playing video games also challenge players to solve complex problems. This virtual problem-solving serves as great practice for real-life hurdles. The American Psychological Association showed in a study that adolescents who played strategy video games had improved problem-solving abilities and better grades in school. The study showed a correlation between how frequently the participants were playing games and how much improvement they saw — the more strategy games they played, the more their problem-solving skills and school grades improved.
These problems can involve both memorization and analysis to solve them, as well as a little creativity. Obstacles in video games are often very open-ended without a lot of instruction, meaning players must experiment with trial and error. In contrast to their parents, most young kids see video games as a social activity, not an isolating one.
Video games create a common ground for young kids to make friends; allow kids to hang out; and provide structured time with friends. In our research, boys were more likely to play video games with a group of friends, either in the same room or online. Plus, young boys said games were a frequent focus for conversation among their peers: One boy revealed that his peers at school mostly talked about "girls and games -- the two Gs. In my own research, players specifically boys talked about learning new moves from sports video games and then practicing them at the basketball court or on skateboards.
Some took up new sports after being introduced to them in video games. As one boy revealed in a research focus group, "In the games that are real, which are mostly the sports games, you see them do amazing plays.
If you go outside and try them and keep practicing, you could get better. It's normal and healthy for kids, especially boys, to compete with their peers as they jockey for status and recognition. In my surveys and focus group studies with young teens , "I like to compete with other people and win" was one of the most popular reasons for playing video games -- again, especially for boys.
Video games are a safe place to express those competitive urges, and can give children who aren't good at sports a chance to excel.
When children play video games in groups, they often take turns leading and following, depending on who has specific skills needed in that game. In studies by Nick Yee of the Palo Alto Research Center, teens who had played group games online felt they had gained leadership skills such as persuading and motivating others, and mediating disputes. Online multi-player games offer teens a rare chance to participate in, and sometimes lead, a diverse, mixed-age team.
And nobody cares how old you are if you can lead the team to victory. An experimental study published in the Creativity Research Journal found a link between certain video games and creativity. The participants either played Minecraft with or without instruction, watched a TV show, or played a race car game. The researchers found that those who played Minecraft without instruction completed subsequent tasks with the most creativity—maybe because they were given the most freedom to think on their own while playing, researchers think.
Roughly one-third of the children we studied said they played video games in part because they liked to teach others how to play. For instance, such claims tout that, for just a few minutes a day, you can train your brain using video games—and in some cases, that these games will make you smarter.
Because really, anything that engages your brain and makes you think is good practice. There are a ton of brain games online and more available for your gaming platform of choice.
Other brain game benefits include helping players get better with repeated tasks, and they also provide mental stimulation—something that doctors highly recommend, especially for older adults and the elderly. Games can also teach problem solving and strategy, making them valuable tools for kids and teens. View our entire list of best video games for kids. In SimCity , players lay out and plan a city, and must think ahead to consider how something like the tax rate may help or hurt the growth of their city, or how street planning and certain zones may impact growth.
The game also teaches resource management and planning on a basic level, and it does a nice job of explaining these concepts to younger gamers. Learning and developing these types of strategies can be directly applicable to life as well. Last, an indirect benefit is the fact that several video games are based on real historical events, and can encourage kids to find out more about the world that came before them through research and reading.
How else are video games good for you? Exergames like the Wii Fit have experienced a huge resurgence in the last ten years thanks to companies like Nintendo and Konami.
And for kids and parents with busy schedules, such games provide a quick way to get in 30 minutes of activity and exercise. Exergames get players up and moving, helping with circulation, joint flexibility, coordination, and balance. And thanks to technology, many of these same games track your progress, through your number of repetitions, and even help you set goals to keep you motivated—all without the commitment of a gym membership.
From another physical perspective, video games can improve your eyesight. A study by the University of Rochester proved video games improve vision by making gamers more responsive to different shades of color. The same study, funded by the National Eye Institute and the Office of Naval Research, found that players of action games - like first-person shooters - had better perception of color contrast.
Additionally, video games have been proven to improve fine-motor skills in preschoolers, and a study published in the medical journal PLOS One found that surgeons who played video games - more specifically, the Nintendo Wii - became better surgeons!
By playing games, they improved their hand-eye coordination and precise muscle movement—both essential skills for their practice. So yes, video games are actually good for you on many levels.
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