Study Shows Playing Games Can Improve Cognitive Abilities

New research by Western University and Science and Industry Museum revealed that playing video games can boost your cognitive abilities.

Over 2,000 participants were asked to complete a lifestyle survey followed by Creyos online brain games that measure memory, attention, reasoning, and verbal abilities. The study, led by Adrian Owen, a professor in cognitive neuroscience and imaging at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, shows that among the 1,000 people who finished all the tasks, playing games had a positive effect on cognition but didn't affect their mental health.

Interestingly, this goes against what Hiroyuki Egami, a behavioral scientist at Nihon University in Tokyo, found earlier. His study involved more people and concluded that during a shortage of PS5 consoles, getting to buy one led to mental health benefits.

Owen's research, however, says that exercising more than 150 minutes per week improved mental well-being but had no effect on cognition.

According to results, people who played video games for five or more hours per week for a single type of game performed cognitively like people who were 13.7 years younger, while those who played for less than 5 hours per week across all kinds of games performed like people 5.2 years younger.

At the same time, participants who exercised for 150 minutes per week were 12% more likely to report having no symptoms of depression and 9% more likely to have no symptoms of anxiety.

"The results of this study could help all of us choose activities that promote healthy cognitive aging," Owen believes.

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