Action video games best for improving attention skill, cognitive functions, says SAGE study

A new study has revealed that action-packed video games improve brain function.

Researcher C. Shawn Green and Aaron R. Seitz of the SAGE publication wrote that compared to brain games which were created specifically to improve cognitive function, action video games that featured quickly moving targets that come in and out of view, include large amounts of clutter, and that required the user to make rapid, accurate decisions had particularly positive cognitive impacts.

According to the researchers, action video games had been linked to improving attention skills, brain processing, and cognitive functions including low-level vision through high-level cognitive abilities.

They said that brain games typically embody few of the qualities of the commercial video games linked with cognitive improvement.

Green and Seitz stated that the research had shown that total amount of video game play predicts poorer attention in the classroom, adding video games were known to impact not only cognitive function, but many other aspects of behavior and this impact could be either positive or negative depending on the content of the games.

The study is published in the Journal Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.