Study Finds Action-Gamers Cognitively Superior To Non-Gamers

A new study undertaken by professors at Florida State University yielded some interesting results: under some circumstances action-gamers were found to be cognitively and perceptually superior to non-gamers, even though games themselves do not enhance such abilities.

According to an article on UPI, Walter Boot, the head professor leading up the examination, stated that…

"The idea that video games could enhance cognition was exciting because it represented one of the few cases in which cognitive training enhanced abilities that weren't directly practiced,"… "Despite the hype, in reality, there is little solid evidence that games enhance cognition at all,"

Despite the fact that games DO NOT enhance cognitive abilities in an individual…it was found that cognitive functions within action-gamers were heightened to those of non-gamers, which lead Boot to conclude that there are intrinsic, natural neurophysiological properties within individuals that have these heightened cognitive functions that lead them to play games. Sort of like, cops are always inclined to eat donuts even before they were cops. Or, for instance, you may like basketball a lot and play it a lot, but if you weren’t born to physically cut the custard with a basketball, don’t bother trying out for the NBA.

To what use these “heightened cognitive” functions might come into play in real life we may never know, but apparently all those foul-mouthed, noisy, whiney, bratty, good-for-nothing squirts who excel at Call of Duty apparently do so because natural selection prompted them to put their perceptually heightened, cognitively superior talents to use in such a worthwhile pastime.

I’m sure you parents out there can now be proud of your 12 year old since they're actually cognitively gifted to get all those KillStreaks in Call of Duty: Black Ops…see, gaming isn’t all bad.