The video game Space Fortress, developed at the University of Illinois, can be manipulated to test various aspects of cognition.
Interesting news about games from the world of science: A team of multi-institutional researchers funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research has published a study in the science journal Cerebral Cortex that suggests the volume of certain structures in our brains can act as an accurate predictor of one's gaming performance.
The scientists, hailing from the University of Pittsburgh, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois, wanted to answer this question: Is bigger better?
They created a study group of 39 adults aged 18-28, measured the volume of specific areas of their brain relative to the rest of the organ using MRI, then had them play Space Fortress-a game designed to test subjects' cognitive abilities (screenshot above). One group was told to try to maximize their score while another group had to shift priorities while playing, improving skills in one area while still trying maximize other objectives.
Results indicated that nearly a quarter of the variability in achievement witnessed could be predicted by measuring the volume of three structures in their brains: the nucleus accumbens, caudate nucleus, and putamen. The larger these areas of the brain, the better the test subjects tended to perform.
"This is the first time that we've been able to take a real world task like a video game and show that the size of specific brain regions is predictive of performance and learning rates on this video game," said Kirk Erickson, a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and first author on the study, in a press release.
He also suggested that the results could have ramifications within the field of education.
"We can use information about the brain to predict who is going to learn certain tasks at a more rapid rate," he said, noting that it might allow educators to determine whether some students require lengthier periods of training.
As for the world of gaming, the impact will likely be negligible. Though it would be undeniably awesome to hear players taunting one another with "My nucleus accumbens is bigger than yours!" I doubt it will happen anytime soon.
That said, I do plan to bring up both this research and my cranium's larger-than-average size the next time I see my gaming chums. Can't hurt.
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