Playing 3D videogames ‘can aid healthy memory formation’

A new US study has demonstrated the potential benefits that playing 3D videogames can have on the healthy development of memories.

The University of California – Irvine research has indicated that complex, immersive 3D games can be beneficial for people who lose memory as they age or suffer from dementia.

For this study, a group of non-gamer college students were asked to play either Angry Birds, a game with a passive 2D environment, or the more intricate Super Mario 3D World for 30 minutes per day over two weeks.

It was shown that students playing the 3D game improved their scores on a memory test taken around the same time, while the 2D players did not. The memory performance increase was around 12 percent – the same amount it normally decreases between the ages of 45 and 70.

The researchers stated that these benefits were due to the additional spatial information available to explore in 3D games, which stimulates the hippocampus in a way that bolsters memory performance.

Craig Stark, professor of neurobiology and behaviour at the University of California – Irvine, said: "While we can't all travel the world on vacation, we can do many other things to keep us cognitively engaged and active. Videogames may be a nice, viable route."