Study: Playing action games improves decision making

Video game players who enjoy action titles -- particularly shooters -- are better at making quick, accurate decisions, a University of Rochester study finds.

Researchers presented a group of players and non-players with a series of dots and were asked to identify the direction of the dots' motion. Tests were varied in difficulty based on the number of dots that were moving in the same direction.

The study found players were able to make their decisions faster, and more accurately, then those who didn't play action games.

Researchers say the unpredictability of some shooters and other action games could play a factor in how quickly players can make decisions.

"Unlike standard learning paradigms, which have a highly specific solution, there is no such specific solution in action video games because situations are rarely, if ever, repeated," the researchers write. "Thus, the only characteristics that can be learned are how to rapidly and accurately learn the statistics on the fly and how to accumulate this evidence more efficiently."

The report's findings will be featured in the September 14 issue of Current Biology.

By Brett Molina