Study shows that certain video games improve decision-making

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=20826

Always fun to argue for more video game playing!

According to the University of Rochester scientists, this shows that video games with fast-paced, strategic themes help gamers continuously calculate and refine probabilities in their minds, leading to quick decision-making.

Click to expand...

Well I can disputably say that after playing so many fast paced racing and FPS games, that I have a pretty high reaction rate... I can also say that due to many FPS being of a brutal horror genre, that unless I'm already in a "tense" state, such reactions would probably not act too fast unless I was mentally prepared myself, so I'd probably lose in the first strike as such... or... snap back and win...

... it's disputable

I think RTS games would fall under this more then twitch-snap CoD.

Nova said:

I think RTS games would fall under this more then twitch-snap CoD.

Click to expand...

The study involved first-person shooter style games, then tested response time to stimuli. I thought it was a pretty solid study.

Now, abstractly, I would say that Real Time Strategy games definitely involve different neural pathways. Games like Starcraft II involve more in-depth decisions with more complex response strategies, therefore are harder to set up for study. The simpler stimuli-response relationship after playing a game that involves stimuli-response is sound for being a subject of study. Inferential ideas come after the simple data is analyzed

I recently read about a similar study but used fighters instead. It also showed that the participants also found strategy and such much more interesting.