Strategy games & cognitive abilities

[Teutooni]

As a group, the gamers became significantly better ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ and faster ├óÔé¼ÔÇ£ at switching between tasks compared with the comparison group. Their working memory, as reflected in the tests, also was significantly improved. Their reasoning ability was enhanced. To a lesser extent, their short-term memory of visual cues was better than that of their peers, as was their ability to identify rotated objects.

http://news.illinois.edu/news/08/1211gamers.html

Intresting...

Get ready to pwn your granny.

[Gota]

Can't eat,cant piss,cant see,cant hear but can GAME!!

[Boirunner]

rts gamers are better at sex too, because they

[KaiserJ]

rts gamers are better at sex too, because they

... micro their penises? hurhurhur

but seriously, an interesting article. its funny how for so many years (especially in the days of doom) video games were regarded as an abomination that would rot your brain... and now we have stuff like "brain age", and articles like this...

guaranteed that scientists who work on things like this caught a lot of flak back in the 1980s from their parents for spending too much time playing centipede on their atari 800s and felt they had a point to make

[Gota]

Well,smoking was said to be healthy by some "scientists" and "researches".
Is that research really is impartial?are the researchers former or current gamers?Was the research funded by the gaming industry?etc etc...

[t0rb3n]

stated at the end of the article:
"This research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging. The authors received no monetary or other support from the video-game industry."

[smoth]

Sorry guys Teutooni just accidentally, your brains.

[Gota]

stated at the end of the article:
"This research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging. The authors received no monetary or other support from the video-game industry."

Yeah didn't notice that but I,personally,am a gamer myself and it would be very convenient of me to accept these conclusions and that is why I,myself,will still remain skeptical of them and would recommend other gamers to do the same.

[Felix the Cat]

Well,smoking was said to be healthy by some "scientists" and "researches".
Is that research really is impartial?are the researchers former or current gamers?Was the research funded by the gaming industry?etc etc...

Subject the research to the common-sense test.

Strategy games = brain exercise = good for brain.

Smoking = lung destroying = bad for you.

I partake in both of the above... I can't breathe worth a damn, but damn can I multitask and think critically!

[Gota]

Well,smoking was said to be healthy by some "scientists" and "researches".
Is that research really is impartial?are the researchers former or current gamers?Was the research funded by the gaming industry?etc etc...

Subject the research to the common-sense test.

Strategy games = brain exercise = good for brain.

Smoking = lung destroying = bad for you.

I partake in both of the above... I can't breathe worth a damn, but damn can I multitask and think critically!

Yeah..great critical thinking...maybe you played one
game too many

Common sense can be misleading when it comes to science.
In the past it was common sense to think smokign is not harmful.

[smoth]

Common sense can be misleading when it comes to science.

Common sense can be misleading

Common sense

AH HA HA HA HA.. yan preaching about common sense.

I shouldn't make so much fun of your lack of apparent common sense, after all each culture has their own norms. Spanish people, chinese people etc all seem to have the sort of larger general common sense. Oh shit, well, no, sorry it is just you.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

playing loads of games also makes you socially retarded

[Panda]

If video games can be therapeutic I suppose is possible that they can be used to help cognitive abilities:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNIqyyypojg

However, a lot of games aren't geared towards that kind of thing even if we do have a growing population of older people who would benefit from trying them out.

[smoth]

the growing trend is that gamers want games to be morally worse.

RAPING BABIES FUCK YEAH

and they want it to be easier also,

AUTO HOMICIDE FUCK YEAH

[KaiserJ]

hey... if you were in a life or death situation where you had to rape a baby in order to survive, you'd be DAMNED happy that you had spent hundreds of hours playing a simulation of it.

on the topic of smoking / games etc... drinking a glass of beer is said to raise your IQ and concentration levels a few points, but i think we all know what happens when you have too much beer... same probably goes for gaming, playing in moderation can be good for your brain, but playing too much can damage you in other ways.

[smoth]

on the topic of smoking / games etc... drinking a glass of beer is said to raise your IQ and concentration levels a few points, but i think we all know what happens when you have too much beer... same probably goes for gaming, playing in moderation can be good for your brain, but playing too much can damage you in other ways.

see here for scientific discussion

[t0rb3n]

it's as with everything:
more training increases your skill-level.
hell we know that you gotta have a lot of things in mind while playing rts, so it's almost trivial that we see an increase in eg multitasking ability.
but, of course, dosis sola venenum facit. doing nothing else will result in decrease skill-levels of everything else...

i read about a similar survey, but instead of playing rts they practiced juggling. during the survey period, measurable increase of brain activity occured, but after some months without training, brain activity eventually went back to normal.

but after all, who cares xD gaming is fun

[Crayfish]

Gaming is participatory, involving, often competitive, often involves social interactions and challenges problem solving skills, reactions and a lot more.

No wonder it beats watching telly.

Many games are probably nearly as mentally stimulating as sports. It's a pity they don't develop the physique in the same way

[Peet]

Many games are probably nearly as mentally stimulating as sports. It's a pity they don't develop the physique in the same way

A rather skinny friend of mine has a rather prominent muscle on his right forearm that you don't usually see on people. Diablo 2.

[Acidd_UK]

Or chronic masturbation.