Video games are always said to have an effect on health – often of a negative nature. A study from the USA has now found positive effects of gaming.
The findings of the research group from Georgia State University in Atalanta are about sensorimotor decision-making. Simply explained, the process of perceiving a stimulus, deciding how to respond to it, and then making a physical response.
Gamers react faster and more accurately
In the 47-participant study, there was a significant difference between gamers and non-gamers. The former not only made their decisions faster and executed their reactions earlier, but also acted more precisely at the same time.
The advantages of gamers were demonstrated by asking them to recognise the direction of movement of a specific colour on a screen full of different coloured dots and to confirm this by pressing a button.
But that was not all: the brain activity of the participants was also measured during the task – and revealed another advantage in favour of the gamers.
Because the test subjects who had indicated that they regularly played video games showed higher activity in the areas of the brain that enable more effective behavioural responses. In addition, these regions worked together more directly as a network.
With this, Mukesh Dhamala, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience, and Tim Jordan, PhD, found an explanation for how video games improve decision-making in the brain.
Games possible as brain training and treatment method
For Dhamala, this is a result with a future: “Video games can be used to train the efficiency of decision-making, for example,” says the expert, who also recognises an added therapeutic value: “Once the relevant networks in the brain are identified, games could also be used for therapeutic interventions.”
A possible example of this is Jordan himself: At the age of five, he suffered from severely below-average vision in one eye. In the course of a study, he tried to improve this by taping off his healthy eye and only using the weak eye to reach for the controller. A successful approach that could be extended to other health problems in the future.
