Can Online Gambling Improves Cognitive Ability ?

A recent study published in the December issue of British science journal Perception has indicated that online gaming may actually have a beneficial effect on the development of the brain. The study, conducted by American researcher Rolf Nelson – a professor of psychology at Wheaton College near Chicago – reported that regularly playing online games can boost cognitive ability in different key areas. According to Nelson’s findings, playing action games can improve cognitive speed while puzzle and strategy games may enhance cognitive accuracy in the long-term – with the results showing strong evidence to support for both claims. In Nelson’s study, 20 students were challenged to solve a spatial relation problem both before and after playing either a strategy or action game. In the second test, participants who had played the action game were found to have completed the task much faster than during their first attempt, while those who played the strategy game reportedly finished the task with a far greater degree of accuracy the second time. According to the abstract printed in Perception, the goal of the experiment was to “understand the way in which video game play affects subsequent perception and cognitive strategy,” and Nelson’s findings have certainly gone some way in demonstrating the potential benefits such activities can have on the brain.