Video games can help boost children's intelligence
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have studied how the screen habits of US children correlates with how their cognitive abilities develop over time. They found that the children who spent an above-average time playing video games increased their intelligence more than the average, while TV watching or social media had neither a positive nor a negative effect. The results are published in the journal Scientific Reports. [1]
Figure 1. Video games can help boost children's intelligence
Figure 1 shows children are spending more and more time in front of screens. How this affects their health and whether it has a positive or negative impact on their cognitive abilities are hotly debated. For this present study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam specifically studied the link between screen habits and intelligence over time.
Over 9,000 boys and girls in the USA participated in the study. At the age of nine or ten, the children performed a battery of psychological tests to gauge their general cognitive abilities (intelligence). The children and their parents were also asked about how much time the children spent watching TV and videos, playing video games and engaging with social media. [2]
For the study, researchers at Karolinska along with those in Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam specifically studied the link between screen habits and intelligence over time in over 9,000 boys and girls aged nine or ten, in the US. Just over 5,000 of the children were followed up after two years.
On average, the children spent 2.5 hours a day watching TV, half an hour on social media, and 1 hour playing video games. [3]
So this finding should be taken with a grain of salt. There is some empirical support that high-quality TV/video content, such as the programme Sesame Street, has a positive effect on children's school performance and cognitive abilities. But those results are rare. [4]
References:
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220512121853.htm
- https://news.ki.se/video-games-can-help-boost-childrens-intelligence
- https://www.mid-day.com/lifestyle/health-&-fitness/article/-playing-video-games-can-aid-in-boosting-childrens-intelligence-study-23227414
- https://www.news9live.com/technology/gaming/video-games-can-help-boost-childrens-intelligence-study-170622?infinitescroll=1
Cite this article:
Thanusri swetha J (2022), Video games can help boost children's intelligence, Anatechmaz, pp.94
