Video games are good for your brain; Let’s see how!

  Bibin       January 31, 2020

Everybody likes to play games. Especially gamers among adults are increasing every year. According to studies conducted in 2016, the average age of a gamer has increased to 35 years old. More and more people around the world are being exposed to games since the gaming consoles are getting cheaper and accessible to everyone.

But the latest trend is the increased number of gamers who play on smartphones and tablets during their leisure times. So, it’s no doubt that video games became a common form of entertainment these days.

Let’s see how these games affect our brains and our behaviour.

Based on Research

Media has made so much sensational news about games and it’s effects on health and social behaviour. Often, video games are sort of demonized and show only it’s bad effects that come as a result of addiction.

Marc Palaus, the first author in the review recently published in his Frontiers in Human Neuroscience says that gaming is a popular activity, so everyone seems to have strong opinions on the topic". Palaus started his research with his colleagues to see how video games affect the structure and activity of our brains.

They collected data from 116 scientific studies. Out of these studies, 22 of them looked at what kind of structural changes occurs in our brain and 100 of them were tested to see the changes in brain functionality and social behaviour.

Better Focus

Video games do affect the way our brains process data and even it’s the structure at a cellular level. For example, non-addictive video gameplaying positively affects our attention, such as sustained attention or selective attention. Attention centres in gamers found to be more efficient and get activated instantly and sustained efficiently for a longer period of time.

Visuospatial skills are also improved in video gamers. The right hippocampus of long-term gamers and volunteers following a video game training program were shown enlarged hippocampus, compared to non-gamers.

Level of Addiction

Internet gaming disorder is a condition that occurs as a result of video game addiction. Gaming can be considered to be in an addictive state only if the gaming habit affects the player’s day to day lives. In gaming addicts, researchers have found functional and structural changes in the reward centre in the brain, which causes the urge to stay within the game for hours and hours and causes depression and anxiety when the victim doesn’t have access to gaming. These are the exact neural changes that happen inside the brains of drug addicts and alcoholics. 

So, what do all these brain changes mean? Palaus says "We focused on how the brain reacts to video game exposure, but its effects in real-life changes from individuals to individuals". Since the video gaming industry is going through some tremendous changes, still the impacts of gaming are not fully known to researchers. "

It's likely that video games have both positive effects on attention, visual and motor skills and negative impacts such as the risk of addiction. But one thing is sure gaming does have some positive effects on brain function if done moderately. 

Hey Gamers

So, gamers tell your parents not to worry about you spending time playing games in your console the whole time. Share this article among your buddies and friend groups. Read our other blogs to get information about the latest news and trends in the gaming industry.