Playing video games leads to higher intelligence in children

A new study published in Nature found that playing video games in childhood leads to higher intelligence, independent of genetic and socioeconomic differences. The researchers concluded that “children who played more video games when they were 9-10 years showed the most gains in intelligence two years later.”

• As part of the study, the researchers measured the intelligence of nearly 10,000 children in the US, once when they were 9-10 years old and again two years later with the goal of evaluating the impact of screen time on children’s ability to learn effectively, think rationally, understand complex ideas and adapt to new situations.

What about watching others play games?!: If your kid likes to spend more time on Twitch watching PewDiePie or Ninja, tough luck there. The study also concluded that socializing online and watching videos are not correlated with greater intelligence in children when controlling for subjects’ parental education.

Zoom Out: Past and present studies have found that video games are effective in improving cognitive abilities like visual processing skills, visual attention, and working memory capacity. So parents, let your kids play games.