A team of Neuropsychologists, lead by Prof. Dr. Boris Suchan at Ruhr-Universität Bochum reported findings on a recent study pitting gamers against non-gamers in a learning study. The study was conducted on a group of 17 candidates who played games for more than 15 hours a week, and a control group of participants who, by their own admission did not play games to that of an extent.
These individuals were tested using the 'Weather Prediction Task', a well-established tool used in 'learning of probability' studies. While being actively monitored through resonance brain scanning; the participants were shown a set of cue cards in combinations pertaining to specific weather conditions. They were then subject to a test of memory, with the same cards, and had to 'predict' the weather conditions when shown a specific card. The candidate received instant feedback on whether they were right or wrong in each case.
After the aforementioned test concluded, all participants were subject to a written test relating to the information learned in the prior exam.
The study found that those participants who played video games for 15 hours or more per week had learned faster, as first author Sabrina Schenk explains:
“Our study shows that gamers are better [at] analyzing a situation quickly, to generate new knowledge and to categorize facts – especially in situations with high uncertainties,”
Beyond that, Schenk further elaborated on how this could be a possible solution to other memory problems:
“We think that playing video games trains certain brain regions like the hippocampus. That is not only important for young people, but also for older people; this is because changes in the hippocampus can lead to a decrease in memory performance. Maybe we can treat that with video games in the future.”
Earlier we reported on another study that found that men aged between 21 and 55 had worked an average of 203 hours less than their counterparts a few generations ago, opting to instead play video games. If the hypothesis is correct, those gaming sessions may have given the gamers something more than just a dopamine rush.
Source: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
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