Playing 3D Games Can Apparently Increase Your Memory

There are many arguments as to whether or not video games are good for us. Some suggest that violent video games can lead to violent behavior, while others argue that isn’t the case. That being said, if you’ve ever wanted to help boost your memory, this new study about playing video games might be of interest to you.

According to a team of neurobiologists at University of California, the study found that playing video games might actually help with your memory. However the catch is that you have to play 3D games as opposed to 2D games. The team split their subjects into two groups – one group played 2D games like Angry Birds, and the other played Super Mario 3D World.

Based on their findings, it seems that those who played 3D games had an improvement in their scores when doing a test involving learning and memory, compared to those who played 2D games. According to researcher Craig Stark, “First, the 3-D games have a few things the 2-D ones do not. 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. Either way, we know this kind of learning and memory not only stimulates but requires the hippocampus.”

Stark suggests that 3D video games could be an alternative to those in the later stages of life who might be finding that their memory isn’t what it used to be. “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.”

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