Alani Pope
Mrs. Franey
April 2, 2026
Pick Up A Controller: How Video Games Improve Your Brain
Since their very creation, people, moms, and scientists have seemed to be
against video games. Yet in research conducted, video games don’t seem to be the
problem anymore. Video games can stimulate all areas of your brain to help improve
cognitive function, increase emotional resilience and feelings of accomplishment, and
enhance motor skills. Video games are sticking around for the better, and while video
game styles and objectives may change, the e ect on your brain in a healthy way will
not.
To start, video games stimulate your brain in every area, even though you may be
oblivious to it. When setting up a study to monitor cognitive activity in relation to
video games, they started studying children that volunteered and entered the
experiment starting at ages and ; they examined data from nearly ,
participants. They separated the children into two groups: those who played video
games for three hours per day or more and those who played for less. Playing video
games for three hours or more exceeds the American Academy of Pediatrics screen
time guidelines, which recommends time spent videogaming be limited to one or two
ESSAY TITLE 1
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, hours per day for older children. Chaarani, B. ( , October ). Video Gaming May Be
Associated with Better Cognitive Performance in Children. National Institutes of Health
(NIH); National Institutes of Health. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/
video-gaming-may-be-associated-better-cognitive-performance-children says that in
this study "the researchers found that the children who reported playing video games
for three or more hours per day were faster and more accurate on both cognitive
tasks than those who never played. They also observed that the di erences in
cognitive function observed between the two groups were accompanied by
di erences in brain activity. Functional MRI brain imaging analyses found that
children who played video games for three or more hours per day showed higher
brain activity in regions of the brain associated with attention and memory than did
those who never played. At the same time, those children who played at least three
hours of videogames per day showed more brain activity in frontal brain regions that
are associated with more cognitively demanding tasks and less brain activity in brain
regions related to vision.” This proves the cognitive enhancement that is shown to
come from playing video games. Yet, there are many di erent parts of the brain
involved in video gaming, and certain games can engage di erent parts of your brain
more than others. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/are-video-games-good-for-you ,
explains it very well “……building simulators like City Skylines or Civilization VII. Those
require strategy and critical thinking. And when it comes to games like Wordle, our
brains face a di erent set of challenges related to language and memory.” This
elaborates on the internal workings of video games and certain parts of your brain,
showing that in research, even though a lot of the brain is engaged, sometimes more
parts are than others. Though it may seem impossible, video gaming can actually
ESSAY TITLE 2
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Mrs. Franey
April 2, 2026
Pick Up A Controller: How Video Games Improve Your Brain
Since their very creation, people, moms, and scientists have seemed to be
against video games. Yet in research conducted, video games don’t seem to be the
problem anymore. Video games can stimulate all areas of your brain to help improve
cognitive function, increase emotional resilience and feelings of accomplishment, and
enhance motor skills. Video games are sticking around for the better, and while video
game styles and objectives may change, the e ect on your brain in a healthy way will
not.
To start, video games stimulate your brain in every area, even though you may be
oblivious to it. When setting up a study to monitor cognitive activity in relation to
video games, they started studying children that volunteered and entered the
experiment starting at ages and ; they examined data from nearly ,
participants. They separated the children into two groups: those who played video
games for three hours per day or more and those who played for less. Playing video
games for three hours or more exceeds the American Academy of Pediatrics screen
time guidelines, which recommends time spent videogaming be limited to one or two
ESSAY TITLE 1
9 10 ff 2 000
, hours per day for older children. Chaarani, B. ( , October ). Video Gaming May Be
Associated with Better Cognitive Performance in Children. National Institutes of Health
(NIH); National Institutes of Health. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/
video-gaming-may-be-associated-better-cognitive-performance-children says that in
this study "the researchers found that the children who reported playing video games
for three or more hours per day were faster and more accurate on both cognitive
tasks than those who never played. They also observed that the di erences in
cognitive function observed between the two groups were accompanied by
di erences in brain activity. Functional MRI brain imaging analyses found that
children who played video games for three or more hours per day showed higher
brain activity in regions of the brain associated with attention and memory than did
those who never played. At the same time, those children who played at least three
hours of videogames per day showed more brain activity in frontal brain regions that
are associated with more cognitively demanding tasks and less brain activity in brain
regions related to vision.” This proves the cognitive enhancement that is shown to
come from playing video games. Yet, there are many di erent parts of the brain
involved in video gaming, and certain games can engage di erent parts of your brain
more than others. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/are-video-games-good-for-you ,
explains it very well “……building simulators like City Skylines or Civilization VII. Those
require strategy and critical thinking. And when it comes to games like Wordle, our
brains face a di erent set of challenges related to language and memory.” This
elaborates on the internal workings of video games and certain parts of your brain,
showing that in research, even though a lot of the brain is engaged, sometimes more
parts are than others. Though it may seem impossible, video gaming can actually
ESSAY TITLE 2
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