If you’re looking to enhance your mind, then you might consider turning to one of the strangest genres for that sort of thing:  the first person shooter (FPS) video game.  According to a study published in Current Biology, research shows that people who play shooter games have 25 percent faster decision making time than those who play other types of video games, even brain-bending mental workouts like strategy games.  As it turns out, the fast-twitch button mashing is good for improving the brain’s reaction time!

“These benefits of video games stem only from action games, which almost always means shooter games, where you go through a maze and you don’t know when a villain will appear,” said University of Rochester researcher Daphne Bavelier.  “It’s not exactly what you’d think of as mind enhancing.  Strategy or role-playing games don’t have the same effect.”

See?  All those Saturday nights I spent huddled around the N64 playing Goldeneye weren’t just the sign that I was a loser in college, I was actually improving my brain, training it for my future career in, uh… having a fast reaction time?

Tags: Daphne Bavelier, University of Rochester, Current Biology, first-person-shooters, FPS, shooter games improve decision making, decision making, unusual medical news, weird science, shooters improve brain functioning, video games improve brain functioning

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