Could Playing 3-D Video Games Improve Your Ability To Form Memories?

KYW Medical Reports Sponsored By Independence Blue Cross

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new report in the Journal of Neuroscience has found that playing 3-D video games can improve your ability to form memories and may benefit your brain as you age.

Certainly traditional hobbies like reading novels and doing crossword puzzles can be helpful, but the researchers feel that there is a huge role for technology—especially because it is now so widely accepted.

According to the research, while we can't all travel the world on vacation, we can do many other things to keep us cognitively engaged and active. Video games may be a nice, viable route. The researchers tracked non-gamer college students who played either a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional video game 30 minutes a day for two weeks.

Before and after the two-week period, the students were given a memory test designed to impact the region of the brain associated with learning and memory. Those who played the 3-D game showed improvement on the memory test, while those who played the 2-D game did not.