Scientists Say Shooters Are Good For Your Memory

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Scientists Say Shooters Are Good For Your Memory

Reseachers at the Netherlands-based Leiden University say gamers who regularly play first-person shooters outperform non-gamers in memory-based tasks.

The latest addition to the "science says" cavalcade comes from The Netherlands, where a team headed by Dr. Lorenza Colzato has determined that first-person shooters may actually be a good way to improve your memory. "Players of violent videogames, such as first-person shooter games, have often been accused in the media of being impulsive, anti-social or aggressive," the good doctor said in a video posted earlier this month on YouTube. But shooters "are not just about pressing a button at the right moment, but require the players to develop an adaptive mindset, to rapidly react and monitor fast moving visual and auditory stimuli."

To see whether the demands of those games could actually help improve mental acuity, Colzato's team compared the performance of people who play at least five hours of shooters a week with that of non-gamers "on a task related to working memory." Gamers "were faster and more accurate in the monitoring and updating of working memory" than non-gamers, according to the abstract [http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00426-012-0415-2], while non-gamers "were faster in reacting to go signals, but showed comparable stopping performance."

"Our findings support the idea that playing FPS games is associated with enhanced flexible updating of task-relevant information without affecting impulsivity," it concludes. That second bit is just as important as the first; having a better memory is of little value, after all, if all you can remember is that you want to kill everyone who looks at you the wrong way.

Calzato was blunter in her assessment, saying, "We believe that gaming is a fast and easy way to enhance your memory." And a lot more fun than the usual brain trainers, too.

Source: Science Daily [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130418094751.htm]


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thiosk

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Psh, who needs this book on the chemical reactivity of sulfur?
*clicks bioshock*
 

Proverbial Jon

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Nov 10, 2009
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I play shooters.

I have a shit poor memory.

Please miss, which side of the room do I sit?
 

Denizen

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Though it's very general on just citing the effects of playing FPS, the research suggests that the more demanding the game, the more memory required. If it's a simple game, not much memory is required. Thus difficulty requires adaptability.
 

UNHchabo

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Dec 24, 2008
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I disagree with the conclusion. They're working with people who already play FPSs, so it's equally valid to propose that people born with good memory are drawn to playing First Person Shooters. I think it's likely true, because people who aren't very good at remembering map layouts are more likely to lose interest in FPSs due to getting confused and lost.

Remember: correlation is not causation.
 

Quazimofo

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Denizen said:
Though it's very general on just citing the effects of playing FPS, the research suggests that the more demanding the game, the more memory required. If it's a simple game, not much memory is required. Thus difficulty requires adaptability.
Which is why RTS games (besides supreme commander, since everything takes long as fuck in that game), are even BETTER for adaptability.
 

l3o2828

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Am i the only one who is completly infatuated with that Lady's voice and accent?

Someone in this thread already posted my opinion so yeah...i went with what my subconsious was saying.
 

Quazimofo

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UNHchabo said:
I disagree with the conclusion. They're working with people who already play FPSs, so it's equally valid to propose that people born with good memory are drawn to playing First Person Shooters. I think it's likely true, because people who aren't very good at remembering map layouts are more likely to lose interest in FPSs due to getting confused and lost.

Remember: correlation is not causation.
Also a possible inference from the results. Until a long-term study is conducted that takes people who otherwise do not play videogames (particularly shooters), and has them start playing through some of the classics and excellent shooter specimens (Halo: CE, Doom, Gears of War 1-3 maybe since those levels are less blockbuster linear than COD 3+ and others that I just can't remember right now), we can't be certain that shooters are indeed beneficial to one's memory.
I mean, its reasonable to think they are, since they do exercise certain parts of the brain regarding rapid adaptation to new stimuli, but this is science; we don't go off of what sounds right and guesswork, we experiment on this shit.
 

Right Hook

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They also concluded that playing a shooter for more than 12 seconds will turn you into a bloodthirsty maniac with no remorse for the entire human race, politicians and bad parents everywhere happily agreed.
 

Tarngold

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Quazimofo said:
Also a possible inference from the results. Until a long-term study is conducted that takes people who otherwise do not play videogames (particularly shooters), and has them start playing through some of the classics and excellent shooter specimens (Halo: CE, Doom, Gears of War 1-3 maybe since those levels are less blockbuster linear than COD 3+ and others that I just can't remember right now), we can't be certain that shooters are indeed beneficial to one's memory.
I mean, its reasonable to think they are, since they do exercise certain parts of the brain regarding rapid adaptation to new stimuli, but this is science; we don't go off of what sounds right and guesswork, we experiment on this shit.

I was thinking the same thing. Whos to say that gamers arent genetically predisposed to having good memories, that the reason gamers are seen as having good memories is that people with good memories to begin with are attracted to active stimulation. They need to take a look at the studies done on the other side of this.
 

Kuratius

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I'd say that the study is flawed, because no research has been done on whether people who play shooters just generally tend to have a good memory.
Cause that's the theory I'd favor, to be good in a shooter and for it not to be a frustrating experience, you need to be able to concentrate and focus, an ability which I'd imagine is pretty damn useful when doing memory tests.
 

Smooth Operator

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Well I have no doubt their data is correct but the conclusion as always is off it's rocker.
Yes people who do fast pattern matching several hours per week will be better at fast pattern matching then the people who are not doing that, and that is the end of it... you are good at that one particular task you have been doing in the game, just like a darts player is really good at adding and subtracting values that come up during play.

I don't think the sample group is actually that important because these are simple skills everyone would pick up through enough repetition, we aren't actually born to do one task or another we just learn to do them.
 

Strazdas

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May 28, 2011
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Quazimofo said:
Denizen said:
Though it's very general on just citing the effects of playing FPS, the research suggests that the more demanding the game, the more memory required. If it's a simple game, not much memory is required. Thus difficulty requires adaptability.
Which is why RTS games (besides supreme commander, since everything takes long as fuck in that game), are even BETTER for adaptability.
while i was here suggesting strategy games. wait a minute. supreme commander too slow? its too fast, everything there happens way too fast. well except troop movement. i mean, you get situationsl iek the enemy getting 2 tech tiers above just by the time it take syou to move the troops.....
kinda like civilization really. paly huge map, start a way early, they will ahve riflement before you even reach them with your spearmen. and you cant upgrade outside your territory.