The NIH has found that video games help improve the understanding of children.
A study of nearly 2,000 children found that those who reported playing video games performed better on cognitive skills tests.
The researchers found that the children who were playing video games were faster and more accurate.
According to a report by the National Institute of Health, video games help with a better understanding performance in children. The researchers found that the children who were playing video games were faster and more accurate when compared to the children who don’t play video games. Let’s take a detailed look at the report shared by NIH.
How do video games affect children?
Scientists separated about 2,000 children into two groups, the ones who don’t play video games at all and kids who play games for three or more hours per day. It was found that those who reported playing video games for three hours per day or more performed better on cognitive skills tests.
These tests involved impulse control and working memory compared to children who had never played video games. According to the researchers, these patterns stem from practising tasks related to impulse control and memory while playing video games. These can be cognitively demanding, and these changes lead to improved performance on related tasks.
“While we cannot say whether playing video games regularly caused superior neurocognitive performance, it is an encouraging finding, and one that we must continue to investigate in these children as they transition into adolescence and young adulthood,” said Bader Chaarani, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont and the lead author on the study.
“Many parents today are concerned about the effects of video games on their children’s health and development, and as these games continue to proliferate among young people, it is crucial that we better understand both the positive and negative impact that such games may have.”
While a lot of prior studies have reported that video gaming in children leads to an increase in depression, violence, and aggressive behaviour, this specific study did not find that to be the case.
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Madhav Banka
Madhav is a young writer who loves to write about tech and video game news. View Full Profile
