Playing action video games trains people to make the right decisions faster, according to scientists.
![Benefits of Video Games Extends into Making the Right Decisions, Faster Benefits of Video Games Extends into Making the Right Decisions, Faster](https://www.medindia.net/afp/images/US-IT-Internet-videogames-addiction-youth-study-87385.jpg)
Authors Daphne Bavelier, Alexandre Pouget, and C. Shawn Green report that video games could provide a potent training regimen for speeding up reactions in many types of real-life situations.
The researchers tested dozens of 18- to 25-year-olds who were not ordinarily video game players. They split the subjects into two groups. One group played 50 hours of the fast-paced action video games "Call of Duty 2" and "Unreal Tournament," and the other group played 50 hours of the slow-moving strategy game "The Sims 2."
After this training period, all of the subjects were asked to make quick decisions in several tasks designed by the researchers.
In the tasks, the participants had to look at a screen, analyze what was going on, and answer a simple question about the action in as little time as possible (i.e. whether a clump of erratically moving dots was migrating right or left across the screen on average).
In order to make sure the effect wasn't limited to just visual perception, the participants were also asked to complete an analogous task that was purely auditory.
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"It's not the case that the action game players are trigger-happy and less accurate: They are just as accurate and also faster," Bavelier said. "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."
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Source-ANI