Research Finds Relationship Between Gaming And… Ooh Shiney!

A new piece of research has been published detailing findings that show a correlation between playing video games and a lesser ability to focus.

The study conducted at Iowa State University took 51 men aged between 18 and 33, recorded their gaming habits and then observed their brain as basic tests were conducted. The results showed that “high” gamers (with an average of 43 hours a week spent gaming) had noticeably different brain patterns than “low” gamers (with an average of just under two hours of gaming per week).

Whilst I don’t pretend to understand the majority of the scientific results in the paper, they do back up the following statement taken from the Discussion section of the article.

Together, these data may indicate that the video game experience is associated with a decrease in the efficiency of proactive cognitive control that supports one’s ability to maintain goal-directed action when the environment is not intrinsically engaging.

Read more →