Study shows that better gamers have bigger brains, are better learners too

Malik_Zulfi · January 23, 2010, 2:54pm

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/01/brain-20100121-600.jpg

While we can’t say for sure that videogames, as your grandmother insists, do indeed rot your brain, thanks to research conducted at a variety of Universities around the States we know that better gamers tend to have more gray matter than others – at least in certain areas. Kirk Erickson, Ann Graybiel, Arthur Kramer, and Walter Boot worked together to form a study in which 39 participants’ brains were scanned before those subjects were asked to play a game called Space Fortress (which looks a little like an Atari-era Geometry Wars). Players with larger nucleus accumbens did better learning the game early on, while those with larger caudate nucleus and putamen did better at playing with distractions. There was no sign that playing games actually increased the size of those areas of the brains, meaning some people are just born with a Power Glove on – and that it’s only a matter of time before MRIs replace aptitude tests.

Source

Dubaiwali · January 23, 2010, 5:08pm

Re: Study shows that better gamers have bigger brains, are better learners too

OH YEH PCG READ THIS!!

Malik_Zulfi · January 24, 2010, 5:22am

Re: Study shows that better gamers have bigger brains, are better learners too

PCG dont like games/gamers ?

Esix · January 25, 2010, 2:45pm

Re: Study shows that better gamers have bigger brains, are better learners too

gamers

Dubaiwali · January 25, 2010, 2:50pm

Re: Study shows that better gamers have bigger brains, are better learners too

MZ did you not see PCG’s thread in Life 1 about gamers?! hahahahhaha

fat_spartan · January 25, 2010, 3:10pm

There are some people who just can’t understand how games can be enjoyable to anyone. I personally know a handful of such people. It’s no big deal.

As for the topic, gaming (at least from back in the day) do involve problem solving skills. In many of them you would learn to recognize patterns, and then see how to get the best results. So my take on this is people who are better at different problem solving skills would also have that edge in gaming.

Esix · January 25, 2010, 7:23pm

Re: Study shows that better gamers have bigger brains, are better learners too

^yup so true. Gaming is for smart people
especially games these days.