Western study finds videos games help cognitive performance

Playing video games may boost your cognitive abilities and exercise can play a role in improving your mental health, but not the other way around, a large-scale study has found.

The findings are part of the Brain and Body study, a collaboration between Western University and the Science and Industry Museum for the Manchester Science Festival.

The study showed that among approximately 1,000 people who finished all the tasks, playing video games had a positive effect on an individual’s cognition, but did not seem to affect their mental health.

Exercising more than 150 minutes per week, in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, however, was seen to improve mental wellbeing but had no effect on cognition.

“Playing video games was associated with improved cognitive abilities but not better or worse mental health, whereas more physical activity was associated with improved mental health but not better or worse cognitive health,” said Owen, a professor in cognitive neuroscience and …