Sarah Derdock

College Composition II
Laura Mangini
17 April 2015

Plugged In: Can Video Games Improve Intelligence?

The rise in popularity of video games since their commercial inception in the 1970s and
80s has been monumental. As of 2004, the Entertainment Software Association estimated at
least 60% of Americans alone play some form of video game. Most middle to upper-class
families (especially if they have children) own at least one gaming console at this point as if it
were any other normal entertainment electronic, like a television or computer, and countless
mothers around the world scold their children for gaming for too long that it will fry their
brains. Is that really possible, though? Can video games fry your brain, or make you stupid? Or,
perhaps, is it just the opposite can playing video games actually improve your brain power or
intelligence? To examine this, we must know what we mean by intelligence: is it your IQ, your
GPA, or your SAT scores perhaps? These are the types of measurements people tend to think of
when referring to intelligence. However, intelligence can take a slightly different, underlying
form that isnt necessarily academics-based: our cognitive processing abilities. While there isnt
any solid proof that playing video games can increase your academic intelligence (unless of
course you are playing an educational game), repeated training with video games can definitely
improve your cognitive processing and speed of functioning, which can include everything from
reaction time to adaptability in new situations.

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London and University College London did a
study relatively recently on the effects of video games on cognitive flexibility. They define
cognitive flexibility as the ability to simultaneously engage in multiple aspects of thought and
mentally shift in response to changing goals and environmental condition, or, essentially,
creative problem solving. This study involved participants playing different sorts of video
games, such as real-time strategy or life simulator games. It was found that after extensive
training on the more intensive strategy games, namely the fast-paced StarCraft, participants in
the study performed significantly better on psychological tests, and demonstrating higher levels
of adaptability.
Very similar results come from a study by the U.S. Defense Departments Office of Naval
Research. Dr. Ray Perez, a program officer at the Office of Naval Researchs warfighter
performance department, spoke on the Defense Departments podcast Armed with Science:
Research and Applications for the Modern Military about the effect that video games may have
on what he calls fluid intelligence or the ability to change and adapt strategies for new
situations, extremely similar to the concept of cognitive flexibility from the previous study. Perez
states for the past several decades, fluid intelligence was believed to be an inherent,
unchangeable thing; they have found this to be not true. Repeated training with strategy or action
video games has been found to not only increase fluid intelligence, but also improve perceptive
abilities and short-term memory changes that, according to Perez, can last up to two and a half
years without continued training. And in fact, the Office of Naval Research has discovered that
those that play video games on a regular basis perform 10 to 20 percent higher in terms of
perceptual and cognitive ability than normal people that are non-game players.

Neuroscience experts Bavelier and Green state that video games do definitely have many
cognitive benefits, such as significant improvement of reaction time, coordination, spatial skills,
and visual attention. For instance, they imply that the visuospatial skills required to play video
games cover such a wide range, that it far surpasses the current visual rehabilitation methods that
are used for reduction of visual impairment; it seems that the logical next step is the prospect of
using video games as rehabilitation for visually impaired individuals. Additionally, they bring up
a one of the earliest studies done on video games, conducted by Griffith in 1983; this study
showed that video games players vastly outperform non-gamers in tests of hand-eye
coordination.
Interestingly, they go on to state that playing video games releases a staggering amount of
dopamine about comparable to amphetamines [being] injected intravenously. This is in fact
an extremely positive thing in regards to your intelligence and adaptability: the heavy rise in
dopamine levels are generally observed in the areas of the brain that deal with learning, and it is
theorized that this massive spike in dopamine is critical in the brains response to new material,
helping it to reorganize and learn new information. This not only benefits young people, though.
Bavelier and Green point to a study by Drew and Waters on the effects of video games on the
elderly. Cognitive decline is an extremely unfortunate but inevitable result of old age; however,
after having a group of individuals in their 60s and 70s train on an Atari video game called
Crystal Castles for two months, significant improvement was seen in their hand eye-coordination
as well as their general and verbal intelligence, with the elderly participants even stating that they
found they were more careful in daily activities and had fewer mishaps around the house.
Bavelier and Green state that this shows video games have not only stopped the cognitive decline
caused by ageing, they have actually reversed it.

Video games are so woven into our culture now that you would be hard-pressed to find a
younger person that has never played any form of video game. Some people consider this to be a
very bad thing that the more plugged in you are to these games, per se, the bigger negative
impact it can have on you. However, while there are always risks with overdoing anything, there
are definite positive cognitive effects, and gaming might just improve your intelligence.

Works Cited
Bavelier, Daphne, et al. "Brains On Video Games." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 12.12 (2011):
763-768. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Green, C. Shawn, and Daphne Bavelier. "The cognitive neuroscience of video games." Digital
media: Transformations in human communication (2006): 211-223.
Ohab, John. "Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military."
Interview. Podcast. United States Department of Defense. United States Government, 20
Jan. 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Queen Mary, University of London. "Playing Video Games Can Boost Brain Power."
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.