Association of Video Gaming With Cognitive Performance Among Children

Bader Chaarani, PhD; Joseph Ortigara, MS; DeKang Yuan, MS; et al

• Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington

DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.35721

Published 24 Oct 2022

Short summary for very busy people

Results of this case-control study of 2217 children showed enhanced cognitive performance in children who played video games vs those who did not.

The findings are consistent with videogaming improving cognitive abilities that involve response inhibition and working memory and altering their underlying cortical pathways.

Video gamers are less susceptible to attentional distraction and outperform non-video gamers on both selection-based and response-based processes, suggesting that enhanced attentional performance in VGs may be underpinned by a greater capacity to suppress or disregard irrelevant stimuli.