Playing different types of video games can improve a person’s cognitive abilities and alter how their brain operates at rest. A new study reveals that fast-paced action games and turn-based strategy games both enhance mental performance, but action games lead to more pronounced and long-lasting neural adaptations. The research was recently published in the journal Brain Sciences.
As video games have grown into a dominant form of global entertainment, researchers have increasingly investigated their potential to shape the brain. Past studies have suggested that regular gameplay can boost attention, memory, and executive function. Executive function refers to a set of mental skills that include flexible thinking and self-control.
Researchers Jingqing Lu, Dezhong Yao, and their colleagues at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China wanted to understand how distinct game genres uniquely influence the brain. Different genres require vastly different mental resources to succeed. Fast-paced action games demand rapid reflexes, hand-eye coordination, and the simultaneous monitoring of multiple visual targets. Turn-based strategy card games focus on long-term planning, probabilistic reasoning, and keeping track of past moves.
The researchers designed a study to compare these two specific gaming experiences. They aimed to track how dedicated practice alters performance on mental tests and changes the brain’s baseline electrical activity. To measure this baseline activity, they used electroencephalography, commonly known as EEG, to record electrical signals while participants rested with their eyes closed. Resting-state EEG provides an objective measure of the brain’s intrinsic activity and structural efficiency when not actively engaged in a task.
The researchers recruited 68 college students who did not regularly play video games. They randomly assigned the participants to play either an action game, League of Legends, or a strategy card game, Legends of the Three Kingdoms. Each participant played their assigned game for one hour a day, five days a week, over a span of 20 weeks.
To track changes, the research team tested the participants at six different points over 30 weeks. This timeline included a baseline test, mid-training assessments, a post-training test at 20 weeks, and a final retention test 10 weeks after all training had stopped. At these sessions, participants completed three computer-based cognitive tasks. The researchers separately recorded their resting brain activity during these testing weeks.
The first task evaluated distributed spatial attention, which is the ability to monitor multiple locations at once without moving the eyes. Participants had to remember the location of a quick visual cue. They later had to identify a symbol that appeared in that exact spot on a screen.
Over the course of the training, both groups became faster and more accurate at this spatial attention task. However, the action game group experienced a much larger boost in accuracy than the strategy game group. This advantage for the action game players remained robust at the final 10-week follow-up.
The second assessment was a spatial working memory task. It required participants to observe a grid of flashing squares and recall if a current square matched one that flashed several turns earlier. Working memory acts as a temporary mental workspace for holding and processing information on the fly.
Participants in both the action and strategy groups responded faster on the working memory task as their training progressed. Both groups maintained their initial accuracy levels as their speed improved. The action game players consistently demonstrated higher overall performance throughout the testing period.
The final task measured executive function by presenting participants with colored arrows. The participants had to press buttons based on specific rules that pitted the color of the arrow against the direction it was pointing. This forced them to suppress their instinctive reactions and follow the changing logical rules.
In this executive function test, both groups substantially reduced their reaction times without sacrificing accuracy. The researchers observed that differences in accuracy between the two groups were not statistically significant. This indicates that both game types provided a similar enhancement to the speed of cognitive processing.
During the EEG sessions, the researchers looked at specific frequencies of brainwaves. They focused on slow-moving delta and theta waves, as well as functional connections in the alpha band. Delta and theta waves are associated with neural adaptability and readiness. Alpha-band connections indicate how efficiently different brain regions communicate with one another.
The physiological data showed that both groups developed increased delta and theta wave power over the 30 weeks. They also showed a reduction in alpha-band connectivity. A decrease in alpha connectivity suggests that the brain is streamlining its networks. It appears to cut out redundant pathways to process information more efficiently.
The action game group exhibited much stronger brain wave changes than the strategy game group. Ten weeks after the training ended, the action game players had notably higher slow-wave activity than their strategy game counterparts. They also displayed much lower alpha connectivity. These physiological shifts closely mirrored the action group’s superior performance on the attention and memory tasks.
While these results highlight the mental benefits of gaming, the findings apply specifically to the structured environment of the experiment. The participants only played for one hour a day. They avoided extreme gaming habits that could lead to fatigue or behavioral issues. The study also focused exclusively on young, healthy college students.
The way video games affect the brains of children, older adults, or individuals with cognitive impairments might look entirely different. Additionally, the researchers relied on self-reported logs and limited account data to verify that participants were not playing other video games during the study. This method relies on honesty and memory, which can introduce errors.
The researchers also did not track the participants’ academic workloads during the testing phases. Heavy coursework or stressful exams could have independently influenced their mental fatigue or cognitive performance. Future research will need to incorporate broader age groups and track daily stress levels to fully understand how digital environments shape human brain function.
The study, “Effects of Video Game Type on Cognitive Performance and Brain Functional Connectivity: A Longitudinal EEG Study,” was authored by Jingqing Lu, Ruifang Cui, Lijun Jiang, Chenyu Mu, Weiyi Ma, Diankun Gong, and Dezhong Yao.