(Newswire.net — September 8, 2020) — The popularity of video games has increased in recent years, thanks to the development of technology. The activity that was once reserved for the younger part of the population has now taken over adults as well.
The reason for this can also be greater exposure to video games via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. As we always have these devices at hand, it’s logical to use them to make dull moments of our day, like a morning commute, more fun.
Yet, whenever something reaches such a high level of popularity, it immediately becomes a target for analysis — do we benefit from it, or does it have a negative effect on the society as a whole? Particularly with online gaming, the question is how it affects our brain, and in the text below, you can find some answers to that question.
Better Decision Making
For the first benefit of online gaming we’re about to mention, you don’t need to read the studies of experts or neuroscientists. If you’ve ever given a try to any online board game, you know what you should do to win.
While these games include the element of luck often determined by dice, this is not what makes you a winner or a loser. Yes, the dice will roll in a certain way and influence how far you’ll move on the board, but what you do in a specific situation is what matters more.
For example, Board Kings is a game where, apart from moving around the board, you need to go to other players’ boards and get their coins, while at the same time monitoring your own board and protecting your treasure. Therefore, you need to think about every move and decide when and how to act.
Playing this, or any similar online game prepares your brain to apply these skills in real life. You’ll notice how easier it gets for you to make decisions on a daily basis, no matter what the current situation might be.
Improved Focus
The next point on our list deals with the connection between online games and our focus. Whenever we dive into something that keeps us entertained, our focus is completely directed to that activity.
Additionally, if this activity requires the active use of our brain to reach a particular goal, the brain regions in charge of attention and visuospatial skills get even more engaged, thus helping our focus stay strong.
The reason this is good for our brain is that online games often demand that we pay attention to more than one aspect of a game at the same time. For instance, the world’s most popular card game known as poker is nowadays available online for free and has many variations, one of which is the famous Poker Heat.
However, the gameplay has remained the same — you still need to think about the cards you’ve been dealt, as well as the ones on the table, and at the same time carefully monitor the moves of other players and include them in your playing tactics.
Here you can clearly see how important it is that your focus is maintained throughout the whole game. Once this becomes your second nature, you won’t have any trouble keeping your brain focused in other situations as well.
Rehabilitation Technique
For the last point of our text, we’ve consulted experts in medicine and got claims based on years of research. Namely, by working with patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, stroke, cerebral palsy, and other similar diseases, doctors have confirmed that online games can have a significant impact on the improvement of neuroplasticity
Naturally, they are not the primary method used for healing a damaged brain, but they proved to be more than useful in supplementing physical therapies and restoring brain functions.
Therefore, if you’ve been convinced that video games have only a negative effect on our brain, think again, as the overall image can change if you change a perspective from which you look at it.