I<\/span>t seems like every generation is warned about the possible dangers of video games.<\/p>\n Heavy video gaming is commonly blamed for reducing attention spans, fostering social isolation, and even inciting violence.<\/p>\n Lawmakers have targeted video games since the 1970s, and a series of 1990s congressional hearings led to today\u2019s rating system.<\/p>\n Since then, Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald J. Trump have called for research into the role that video games may play in promoting violent behavior\u2014despite clear evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n The reality is that video games have significant mental health benefits, even in normal times. Video games are available in many genres, across a variety of devices.<\/p>\n In a time of social isolation and amid so much uncertainty about the future, playing games can be more useful than ever, and not only for their entertainment value. Video gaming can improve cognitive function, among other advantages.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at the data.<\/p>\n Over 164 million adults in the U.S. play video games<\/a> and three-quarters of all Americans have at least one gamer in their household. Scientists have found that playing video games actually changes the structure of the brain.<\/p>\n According to a study by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development<\/a> and Charit\u00e9 University Medicine St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus in Berlin, playing video games “increases gray matter, or in more simple terms, the size of your brain. It seems that an increase in gray matter “helps refine learned and hardwired skills we use daily.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are five of the more surprising brain benefits of playing video games.<\/p>\n Contrary to popular belief, video games do not contribute to attention problems. In fact, studies show that video games can actually improve it, specifically sustained, selective, and divided attention.<\/p>\n The parts of the brain required for attention are more efficient in gamers versus nongamers, and they filter out irrelevant information more effectively. In gamers, those critical areas of the brain require less stimulation to stay focused on demanding tasks. That sounds like a useful skill for working from home amid inevitable distractions.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a fact of life that as we age, for some people, certain cognitive abilities decline. Cognitive flexibility, attention, working memory, and abstract reasoning can diminish.<\/p>\n Yet experiments involving older adult participants show that video games can actually improve those abilities and thereby reduce the mental decline that accompanies aging.<\/p>\n In a study at the University of California-San Francisco<\/a>, participants between the ages of 60 to 85 specifically showed improvements in working memory and sustained attention\u2014and maintained those skills six months after the study.<\/p>\n Playing video games can also improve spatial attention. Specifically, action video games can enhance the player\u2019s ability to quickly locate a target stimulus in a field of distractors.<\/p>\n Perhaps more surprising, according to the study “The Benefits of Playing\u00a0 Video Games<\/a>,” done by researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, \u00a0\u201cThe spatial skills improvements derived from playing commercially available shooter video games are comparable to the effects of high school- and university-level courses aimed at enhancing these same skills.\u201d<\/p>\n Video games are goal-oriented. Players have to solve a problem, often with little information. Players must practice inductive reasoning, form a hypothesis, and test that hypothesis, thus solving problems through trial and error.<\/p>\n The cumulative effect is that gamers can improve their problem-solving capabilities. Everyone can benefit from sharper problem-solving skills, especially now.<\/p>\n Some studies show that playing video games can improve creativity. Researchers from the Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland<\/a> noted a correlation between the amount of time study participants played video games and various aspects of creativity.<\/p>\n Other studies show a positive correlation between video gaming and characteristics such as creative thinking and openness to new experiences, in contrast to nongaming computer use. Given the distributed workforce that many companies are managing now, video gaming could be useful to foster creative collaboration.<\/p>\n With additional research, we can understand more about the skills and attributes strengthened through video gaming, as well as the wide range of social and cognitive advantages they offer.<\/p>\n Instead of a scapegoat for social skills, game playing offers significant mental health benefits, and who couldn\u2019t use that right now?<\/p>\n 5 Surprising Brain Benefits of Video Games, Especially Now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2020","category-spring-summer-2020-columns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9938"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10325,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9938\/revisions\/10325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Improved Attention Span<\/h3>\n
2. Strengthened Cognitive Abilities<\/h3>\n
3. Fine-Tuned Spatial Skills<\/h3>\n
4. Enhanced Problem-Solving Abilities<\/h3>\n
5. Greater Creativity<\/h3>\n
Jessica Rovello is the CEO of Arkadium<\/a>, a creator of games for adults.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"