Regular computer gaming improves numerical sense, according to a study by scientists at the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research in Tübingen, Germany. The researchers recruited a group of passionate gamers who played for at least four hours per week, and a control group who spent significantly less time gaming. Both groups were shown two circles on a screen, each with a different number of randomly arranged dots, and asked to determine which circle had more dots. While both groups made similar numbers of errors, the gamers were better at identifying small differences between the two circles. The researchers believe that this is due to a certain form of attention that is trained by gaming, rather than specific effects on brain regions.
Previous studies have shown that computer gaming can improve learning ability and social behavior, and even enlarge certain regions of the brain. The researchers at the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research have now demonstrated that gaming can also improve numerical sense, an innate ability to estimate quantities and differences without counting. The ability to perceive differences between quantities is easier when the differences are larger, but the researchers wanted to know if this sense could be trained. They found that gamers were better at intuitively distinguishing between small differences in quantities, such as the number of apples versus oranges in a shopping cart.
The researchers believe that the improvement in numerical sense is due to the training of a certain form of attention, rather than specific effects on brain regions. They suggest that gamers are better at distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information, which is controlled by the dorsal attention network. The more time spent gaming, the better the numerical sense became. The researchers believe that this finding could have implications for education and training, as well as for understanding the effects of gaming on the brain.
