Playing Video Games Equals Boosting Intelligence?

A short answer is yes – hours spent playing games actually can make you more intelligent, as well as calm and creative. For quite some time games had a pretty bad reputation, and God knows why this happened at the first place. Everyone says it is a violent and stupid waste of time, it makes kids cruel and fat, and all the people who call themselves ‘games’ are fat and lonely nerds who have no life. Is the image familiar? Here are the reasons why this fact is far from truth.

First of all, most virtual games despite the gameplay and scenario were created to have physical and educational benefits for players. Repetitive actions present in games – like targeting moving objects or adjusting to the swinging road, your muscles and brain are training to perform the same movements better in real life. So, how exactly playing games can boost your intelligence?

Control over dreams

Numerous surveys and researches show that paying games reduces the number of nightmares people get, and even if such dream might come, players have much more control over it. Psychologists believe this comes from the practice of ruling over the dangerous situations that games get while playing. So, if you’ve ever wanted to experience lucid dreams, you know what to do!

Video games can teach you about science

It is well known that kids learn things faster when you turn the process into a game. Well, this principle works for adults as well. Ingmar H. Riedel-Kruse, Stanford physicist has created a series of scientific video games that are showing you some biological processes in detail. These are promised to help with science lessons both in high school and even universities being a pretty good illustration material.

Gamers make accurate decisions faster

Actually, it is 25% faster than other people. The thing is fast-paced games like shooters, for example, require some fast reactions and decisions as long as there you are either kill or being killed. People who play these games a lot are better at dimensionalorientation; they sense what is going on around them and are able of making fast decisions.

Players have better motor skills

Doctors say that hand-eye coordination development in pre-school age is a key to successful learning in future. The best way the coordination might be developed and improved is playing interactive games. Studies show that kids playing Wii and similar had much better results in motor skill tests like throwing and catching, kicking and bouncing balls.

Games teach us about life

Strategy games are a good source of potential life scenarios, and living them you learn how to be a better person in real life. Moving slow to meet the game tasks you will train to make wise and ethical decisions, and later on you will not notice how you start using the same techniques in solving everyday tasks. Civilization or even Heroes of Might and Magic (even though being a fantasy one) require you work out some social dilemmas and tasks, and by doing so you solve your own issues before they even hit you.

Better fine motor skills

Experienced surgeons are known to play Wii and PSP games as long as they help making fine motor skills more precise. This way they are improving their laparoscopic skills needed for less invasive surgeries. Even if you are not a surgeon, your brain will benefit from better fine motor skills. This actually effects brain activity and gives you sharper mind and precise movements together with overall coordination that would help you in other everyday tasks and activities.

Your vision improves

Yes, you’ve heard it million times: ‘Stop playing so much or you will get blind’. For sure, if you don’t let controller off your hands 24/7 you will not get all the good things about games. But if you play wisely, there is a good chance your vision will improve. It might not get sharper, but the trick is in color scheme of the games and the way our eyes perceive them – after couple weeks of playing action games your eyes will be more sensitive to color contrasts and thus perceive information better.