Children Who Play Video Games Have Higher Brain Activity Than Non Gamers

New Study Shows Children Who Play Video Games Have Higher Brain Activity Than Non Gamers

School-age kids who spend hours a day playing video games may outperform their peers on certain tests of mental agility, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that compared with children who never played video games, those who regularly spent hours gaming had higher scores on two standard cognitive tests: one measuring short-term memory and another gauging impulse control.

Experts stressed that the findings do not prove that gaming sharpens kids’ minds. It could be that children who excel in certain mental tasks are drawn to video games.

 

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“We’re not demonstrating causation in this study,” said lead researcher Bader Chaarani, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont.

But, he added, past research into the potential effects of kids’ video gaming has often focused on the negative: Is it associated with problems like aggression, violence or depression?

Fewer studies have looked into the possibility that video gaming, which requires active mental engagement, could have some benefits—at least compared with “passive” screen time like watching TV or scrolling through social media.

“Our study suggests that video gaming is at least not worse than other screen time,” Chaarani said. “And it may even have some advantages.”