By contributing author Paul Li, a neuroscience graduate student at Columbia.
When I was a kid, I was constantly scolded by my mother for spending countless hours on my 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System. She thought reading or playing outside would be more beneficial for me than Duck Hunt or Super Mario Brothers. My mother could have never predicted that recent research would show that video games can sometimes actually be good for your brain!
Though the usefulness of those old school Nintendo games is up in the air, some popular games like Sim City utilize spatial reasoning and encourage “out-of-the-box” thinking. In fact, the Wii is now being used to facilitate physical therapy in wounded troops. Although these types of mainstream video games may help keep your brain busy and active, bear in mind that they are probably not very useful in improving basic abilities that apply outside the game, such as memory or processing speed. Nonetheless, who knew an activity that many have dismissed as time-consuming and addicting could actually enrich your life. If only someone had told my mother about this earlier…
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