- Hey friends, welcome back to the channel
and to another episode of Journal Club,
the series where we look at the science
behind some of the most important questions in life.
And today we're talking about can video games
be good for you?
Not gonna lie for the last few years,
I've kinda believed that video games
are a total waste of time because they're unproductive
and not particularly meaningful.
But I recently bought a PS4 to start streaming on Twitch.
Follow me, please.
And I've already wasted about 118 days of my life
playing World of Warcraft.
And I'm thinking of getting back into it
when the new expansion part comes out.
And so the reason behind the research for this video
was because I want to feel better about all the time
that I've wasted and will continue to waste on video games.
And I want to look at the evidence to see whether
there are actually any benefits of playing video games.
Now there's all sorts of nuanced bits
that I'm not really gonna focus on.
So there's evidence about addiction
and aggression and depression.
I'm not really gonna focus on the negative aspect
of video games.
This video is purely to illustrate the positive aspect
of video games and the various ways
in which they can make our lives happier,
healthier, and more productive.
So let's dive into it. Firstly, we've got evidence
that video games improve our memory
and our visual navigational skills.
This 2015 study from the University of California compared
gamers versus non-gamers.
And they found that people who played 3D games
performed better at memory tasks
than people who played 2D games like Angry Birds
and people who didn't play any games at all.
They also took a group of non-gamers and split them up
into three groups.
The first group played Super Mario 64 a 3D game.
The second group played Angry birds 2D game,
and the third group didn't play any games at all.
And they found that in those who practiced the 3D game
for half an hour a day
they had improved performance on certain memory tasks.
Second thing we've got decent evidence that video games
help improve our problem-solving ability.
This 2013 longitudinal study found that
people who played more strategic video games
actually had better problem-solving skills
and also correlated with improved grades at school.
And thirdly, we've got evidence from
the University of Rochester that people who play video games
tend to do better at allocating their attention.
Researcher, Dr. Daphne Beverly AL ran a functional MRI study
into the mechanisms that control attentional allocation
and she found the three areas of the brain associated
with attention IE the parietal lobe, the frontal lobe,
and the anterior cingulate cortex.
Those all had more efficient performance
in people who play video games and people who didn't.
They also did some neural simulations
and they found that people who played video games,
their brains were better at collecting visual
and auditory stimulus to be able to make decisions
more effectively and efficiently
than people who didn't play video games.
So all that kinda makes sense,
but we know that video games require some level
of cognitive performance and therefore it makes sense
that if you're playing lots of video games,
you'd be better at performing those sorts of tasks
in real life as well.
But really interestingly, there's also some evidence
that video games can help reduce cognitive decline
that happens naturally as we age.
This study from the University of Montreal
is very interesting.
They split up adults between the ages of 55 and 75
into three groups.
One group was trained on video games IE Super Mario 64.
The second group had piano lessons
and the third group didn't have anything at all.
The study found that an increase in gray matter
within the hippocampus was significant only
in the gaming group whereas the control group
displayed significant gray matter loss.
This is interesting because the gray matter
in the hippocampus act as a marker
for some neurological diseases like Alzheimer's
and if it deteriorates over time,
you're more likely to develop these neurological disorders.
So that was on the anti-aging front,
but there is also some evidence that video games
might be able to help conditions
like anxiety and depression.
For example, this study from New Zealand used
a specially designed game called Sparks
to help teenagers who are dealing with depression.
And they found that remission rates
were significantly higher in the Sparks arm, 43.7%
than in the treatment as usual arm, 26.7%.
So what they found was that the teenagers
who had the video game were significantly
more likely to have their depression cured
or in remission than the people who just had
therapy as usual.
Now, obviously this was a specific video game designed
to treat depression but, you know,
it gives us some kinda evidence that maybe there's
some scope for video games to actually
help reduce depression and anxiety and stuff like that.
Finally, let's talk about the social aspect of gaming.
Now there's obviously this stereotype that video gamers
have no social skills and just sit at home all day.
And yeah, obviously sort of playing video games excessively
and just playing video games and doing nothing else
is probably bad for your social life.
But to be honest, everything and access is kinda bad.
And there's some evidence that video gaming
and moderation actually improves your social life.
This 2017 study from the UK for example,
took a sample of 708 people who played
massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft
and Fortnite and they found various psychosocial benefits
of playing these sorts of games.
They said that their findings revealed positive relationship
between MMO engagement measured
by a multidimensional measure, gamer identity,
and online social capital,
additionally gamer identity related positively
to self-esteem and social competence
and negatively with loneliness.
So that is some evidence that maybe there
are social aspects to gaming.
And to be honest, one of the main reasons
why I really enjoyed World of Warcraft
was for the social aspect of it.
I ended up making kind of internet friends
with lots of people from all around the world.
And actually the reason me and my brother bought the PS4
was during lockdown,
was to hang out with the boys in war zone
because having a zoom call with someone
or with a group of friends, it's just a bit awkward.
Whereas if you're all in the same gaming session,
then it's like the conversation flows naturally.
It doesn't feel forced and stilted like it does
if you're like specifically having a zoom call
just to have a chat. So to be honest, after all this,
my plan is that when the new World of Warcraft
expansion pack Shadowlands comes out in November,
I'm gonna be playing it.
I'm gonna be streaming it on Twitch
and maybe occasionally on YouTube.
So you should definitely follow me on Twitch.
And over on Twitch I also stream myself studying
for my exams and also designing and coding my website
and sometimes like writing for videos and stuff.
So it's a nice place to hang out.
Please follow my link in the video description.
And if you like this video, you might like to check out
the other videos in the series over here
and that talks about whether reading fiction is good for you
and whether drinking coffee is good for you.
Thanks for watching. And I'll see you in the next video.
Bye bye.