BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA - MAY 15: Geon-yeong "Steal" Moon of DetonatioN FocusMe competes at the League of Legends - Mid-Season Invitational Groups Stage on May 15, 2022 in Busan, South Korea. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games via Getty Images) People who play video games have more activity in certain parts of their brains than those who don’t, and a new study suggests video games could be used to teach better decision-making skills.Researchers at Georgia State University looked at 47 college-aged participants for the study — 28 video game players and 19 non-players.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), researchers found the video game players had "enhanced activity in key regions of the brain" and "superior sensorimotor decision-making skills.""Video games are played by the overwhelming majority of our youth more than three hours every week, but the beneficial effects on decision-making abilities and the brain are not exactly known," said lead researcher Mukesh Dhamala, associate professor in Georgia State’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and the university’s Neuroscience Institute. "Our work provides some answers on that."Video game playing can effectively be used for training — for example, decision-making efficiency training and therapeutic interventions — once the relevant brain networks are identified," Dhamala continued.Participants were placed inside an FMRI machine with a mirror that allowed them to see a cue immediately followed by a display of moving dots.