New study suggests videogames may be good for brain

A research that is being conducted at McMaster University in Hamilton, involves hooking test subjects up for a brain scan while they are given tests for their short term memory. The work is at its early stages and so far 30 men who play videogames and 30 men who don’t have been studied.

Results show that while the two groups that were tested did not differ in their ability to maintain memory, it was suggested that those who played videogames have improved ability when it comes to manipulating information stored in memory.

Video game players made about eight percent fewer errors when performing a memory manipulation task, and were about 45 milliseconds faster than non-video game players. The findings are yet to be published or peer-reviewed and researchers caution against coming up with a take-home message at this point in time.

Despite the caution, researchers are already suggesting that perhaps somewhere down the line, video games might be tailored to help the elderly keep their minds sharp.

Now that last bit about the elderly sort of made us smile and ask: aren’t they doing that already?

Finally, something that a bit more than just “it’s good for your hand-eye coordination.”

Via Yahoo News

A research that is being conducted at McMaster University in Hamilton, involves hooking test subjects up for a brain scan while they are given tests for their short term memory. The work is at its early stages and so far 30 men who play videogames and 30 men who don’t have been studied.

Results show that while the two groups that were tested did not differ in their ability to maintain memory, it was suggested that those who played videogames have improved ability when it comes to manipulating information stored in memory.

Video game players made about eight percent fewer errors when performing a memory manipulation task, and were about 45 milliseconds faster than non-video game players. The findings are yet to be published or peer-reviewed and researchers caution against coming up with a take-home message at this point in time.

Despite the caution, researchers are already suggesting that perhaps somewhere down the line, video games might be tailored to help the elderly keep their minds sharp.

Now that last bit about the elderly sort of made us smile and ask: aren’t they doing that already?

Finally, something that a bit more than just “it’s good for your hand-eye coordination.”

Via Yahoo News