So, with a new COD coming up (we’re just guessing, since there’s new COD all the time), it’s time for panicked non-gamers to warn of brain rotting and other horrible side effects. Trouble is, video games, even those mindless first-person shooters, can have cognitive benefits.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science has found that first-person shooters can improve hand-eye coordination, spatial memory, and reaction time. Researchers had a group of non-gamers play fifty hours of first-person shooters (not all at once, thankfully). The non-gamers were tested with a series of perceptual tasks before and after their gaming, and it was found that they improved after their first-person shooter bootcamp.
In another experiment, researchers tested students abilities in the areas of pattern discrimination, 3D manipulation, and learning a digital space. The students who identified as gamers did much better than those who did not.
In study after study, moderate video game use isn’t really detrimental and, as in the above, can even improve a person. It’s people who become addicted to video games who tend to have bad outcomes. Like this guy.
