3D Video Games Can Boost Memory: Study

Video games can be a lot of fun. Whether it's about solving puzzles, fighting tense boss battles or simply enjoying the speed rush that a race gives, video games really are a fun means to entertain one's self. But, did you know that video games can also help boost memory?

“It’s often suggested that an active, engaged lifestyle can be a real factor in stemming cognitive aging,” University of California, Irvine professor of neurobiology & behavior Craig Stark said in a press release. “While we can’t all travel the world on vacation, we can do many other things to keep us cognitively engaged and active. Video games may be a nice, viable route.”

Stark's study, which is published in The Journal of Neuroscience, has found that 3D video games can help boost a person's memory and counter the decrease in memory performance that usually happens as a person gets older.

For the study, Stark and colleague Dane Clemenson, from the UCI's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory, had nongamer college students play one of two games for 30 minutes a day for two weeks. The games involved different dimensional environments: one a plain 2D video game “Angry Birds,” the other a 3D video game “Super Mario 3D World.”

Before and after the two-week play period, the participants took memory tests that engaged the brain region associated with memory and complex learning called the hippocampus.

The test involved showing a series of photos that feature everyday objects. Afterwards, a second set of photos featuring the same objects were shown but, this time, some of them were new while some were altered.

The participants who played the 3D video game were found to have significantly boosted memory compared to those who played the 2D game. Their memory performance was boosted by 12 percent, the same amount that usually decreases when a person reaches the age between 45 and 70.

The findings support an earlier study by Clemenson. In it, rodents that explored a certain environment showed growth in memory performance. That environment, according to Stark, had similarities to the 3D games used in the new study.

“First, the 3-D games have a few things the 2-D ones do not,” he explained. “They’ve got a lot more spatial information in there to explore. Second, they’re much more complex, with a lot more information to learn.”

Stark and his colleagues are now trying to determine if, based on the findings, helping people have enriched environmental experiences will reverse the diminished memory performances that people get as they age.