Study finds video games more effective than brain training software

Entertainment computer games may actually be better at improving cognition than games specifically designed for the task.

This was the surprising conclusion of a research paper from Florida State University. The paper, titled “The power of play: The effects of Portal 2 and Lumosity on cognitive and noncognitive skills” was published last month by researchers Valerie Shute, Matthew Ventura and Fengfeng Ke.

The researchers designed and ran a study comparing a popular video game (Portal 2) with Lumosity, a popular brain-training game that is marketed as a brain workout tool.  77 undergraduates were randomly assigned to play either  Portal 2 or  Lumosity for 8 hours. Participants completed a set of online tests related to problem solving, spatial skill, and persistence, both before and after gameplay.

The results indicated that participants assigned to play Portal 2 showed a statistically significant advantage over Lumosity on each of the three benchmark tests—problem solving, spatial skill, and persistence. Portal 2 players also showed significant improvement on tests while playing Lumosity reportedly did not show any differences.

Even more remarkable was the fact that Lumosity players did not show more improvement than Portal 2 players in any of the tests.

The study may be the first to compare a sophisticated, commercially available "entertainment" video game with a commercially available brain-training game. Shute's study isn't large enough to conclusively establish that Portal 2 is better for brain training than Lumosity, but it does present an interesting point.

Neuroplasticity is a medical term for the brain's ability to grow and change with training, learning, and playing. The study has led to suggestions that if entertainment games are actually better at stimulating neuroplasticity than games specifically designed for that purpose, this suggests is that science is missing something important about neuroplasticity.

The new study supports previous research that had found that many entertainment video games can have positive effects on the brain, while not all commercial products sold as improving cognition work as advertised.