Video games help develop intelligence in children

Scientists from the Karolinska University (Sweden) and the Free University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) decided to find out how technology affects the cognitive abilities of children.

For this they analyzedThe impact of digital media on children’s intelligence while controlling for genetic differences in cognition and socioeconomic background / Scientific Reports data collected by colleagues from the USA. They contained information about 5,000 children aged 9-10 years old who underwent a series of psychological tests to assess their general cognitive abilities. Then, information was collected from parents and the children themselves about how much time they spend on TV, social networks and video games. Two years later, the tests and surveys were repeated.

On average, children spent 2.5 hours a day watching TV, spent half an hour on social networks and another hour on video games. The results showed that those who played games above average scored 2.5 points above average during the second set of tests. There was no significant effect, whether positive or negative, from watching TV or social media.

This data also correlates with recent research demonstrating that intelligence is not a fixed value, but an indicator that is influenced by environmental factors.

The researchers acknowledge the limitations of this study: it covered only children from the United States and did not take into account types of video games, making it difficult to compare results with children from other countries with other gaming habits. It is also important to take into account that the subjects themselves recorded the time spent playing games, which could affect the correctness of the collected data.