6 Video Games That are Good for Your Brain

As I’ve been researching, I have come across some interesting articles about how many video games, despite popular belief, are actually good for your brain. In August of this year, a new study conducted by Oxford University proposed that playing video games for an hour or less per day increases many levels of brain activity depending on what kind of game you're playing.

The video game industry is aware of this study and many other studies like it as they have created many fun and challenging games that can help increase brain activity, whether that concept was planned or not.

Here are six friendly video games that demonstrate the power of the brain when we are playing them.

1) Minecraft

According to an article in The Atlantic, Minecraft involves, “visuospatial reasoning skills—learning how to manipulate objects in space in a way that helps them create dynamic structures. Visuospatial reasoning is the basis for more abstract forms of knowledge like the ability to evaluate whether a conclusion logically follows from its premises. Minecraft also helps youth learn how to collaborate to solve problems, and collaborative learning improves critical thinking skills that support motivation for learning.”

The Gamer has utilized these techniques and has built an automatic harvest contraption, experience and meat farms, and a water elevator!

2) Scribblenauts

This game lets you solve puzzles with anything you can think of. You write down an object you want to use and voila, it appears. I have yet to see its limits in objects when I’m playing this game. The farther you go, the harder the puzzles become. It’s got a friendly atmosphere and is playable for both young and old.

3) Little Big Planet

Who doesn’t love a game with a British narrator? Sack boy is adorable. The creativity and imagination within the game is spectacular. The best part of the game is the ability to create your own levels with things you unlock from the game’s stages.

4) Brain Age

Introduced on the Nintendo DS in 2006, Brain Age was THE brain game of the decade. Its sole purpose was to increase brain activity, including memorization and motor skills.

Back when I was dating The Gamer, he let me borrow his DSi and showed me this game. I would train my brain with three activities a day. By the end of one month my brain age of 68 was down to 26! I was especially proud of my improvement on calculations as I have always struggled with math.

The newest edition, Brain Age: Concentration Training came out this year for the 3DS.

5) Super Mario 64

According to The Huffington Post, “German researchers conducted a study, which was released [in 2013]. They asked 23 adults with a median age of 25 to play ‘Super Mario 64’ for 30 minutes a day over a period of two months. A separate control group did not play video games at all.

Examining the brains of the two groups using an MRI machine, they found that the gaming group had a rise in gray matter in the right hippocampus, right prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum -- areas of the brain responsible for spatial navigation, memory formation, strategic planning and fine motor skills in the hands.”

If that isn’t convincing enough I don’t know what is.

6) Portal Series

This is probably the toughest one for your brain on this list. The game in comprised of complicated puzzles that are done with first person shooter techniques in the form of the portal gun. It requires thinking in a different dimension. Not only do you have to solve the puzzles, you have to pay attention to your surroundings in order to see which surfaces you can put the portals on and such.

There You Have It!

I’m not saying we should all put down the books and grab the controllers. Like all things, video games can be played in moderation, and when we do so, they can benefit our lives.

#braintraining #knowledge #videogames