(ORDO NEWS) — Turns out all those hours spent playing Minecraft might not be that bad for your kid’s brain.
According to a new study in which more than 9,800 American children took part, video games contribute to the development of intellectual abilities.
The team of scientists said that children who play video games have a higher intelligence than their peers who prefer walking, socializing, watching TV, etc.
“After two years [of observation], games had a positive effect on intelligence,” the study authors write.
The scientists said an important element of their study is to control for genetic and socioeconomic factors that can confound or change the results.
In other words, if you ignore these key factors, then you can get conflicting results, as was the case in previous studies .
“While [other] studies take into account some confounding factors, few of them take socioeconomic status into account and none of them take into account genetic effects,” the authors of the study say in their paper.
“This is important because intelligence, skills and other cognitive abilities are largely heritable.”
The study says children with lower socioeconomic status may have less functional home environments, from which TV helps to isolate.
Therefore, it increases the likelihood that such children will watch it. However, it is possible that the environment itself, and not many hours of watching, for example, cartoons, can cause problems with learning. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive studies of this issue leaves a large gap in our knowledge.
So, you may not be planning a gaming marathon for your kids anytime soon. But at least you can enjoy your favorite games yourself, knowing that it’s more good for your brain than watching a series.
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