14 DAY TRIAL // A team of scientists from the University of Rochester has discovered that those who play action video games are better able to make the right decision when they are under pressure mainly because of a increased sensitivity to the things that happen in the world around them.
The study targeted both players and non gamers who were aged between 18 and 25, with two groups created, one exposed to Call of Duty 2 and Unreal Tournament, old but very popular shooters, while the other only played The Sims 2, a life simulation title that moves at a much lower pace.
After they played the games the researchers asked them a simple question about the experience and those exposed to action titles were able to arrive at the correct answer 25 percent quicker than those who played a life simualtion.
Daphne Bavelier, one of the researcher at the University of Rochester, stated, “It's not the case that the action game players are trigger-happy and less accurate: They are just as accurate and also faster. Action game players make more correct decisions per unit time. If you are a surgeon or you are in the middle of a battlefield, that can make all the difference.”
Study authors Daphne Bavelier, Alexandre Pouget and C. Shawn Green are preparing an article for Current Biology in which they say that video games in the action genre could be used to train people to get better reaction times in real life situations.
It's interesting to note that the quicker decision making process is not linked to any superior qualities in the brains of the video gamers but to to the fact that they are simply more able to get information and cues from their environment.
After all hours of watching out for signs of enemies in Unreal Tournament makes even the slightest threatening move in real life something to pay attention to.