Contrary to what your parents may say, video games may help to make you smarter. 

“It depends on the game,” said Chuck DeCastro, a professor of Computer Information Technology. “I think [role-playing games] have strategy [and] make you think about the process you’re doing… It does simulate the mind.”

Research published last year suggests that playing video games is beneficial for cognitive functions. The study, which appeared in the journal “PLOS ONE,” found that gaming helps to predict mental flexibility, planning, visual working memory, fluid intelligence and verbal working memory performance.

Students feel the researchers are catching on to something they have known for awhile. 

“Playing some games … can increase your overall intelligence,” said Caden Weston, a junior Business Information and Analytics major. “There are a lot of games that involve problem-solving and critical thinking.”

Weston realizes that most people play games for entertainment and enjoyment, but he is convinced they offer other benefits.

“I think video games … definitely have an effect on different chemicals in your brain and maybe cause you to have dopamine heads,” he said. “That’s why people continue to play them.”

Video game lover Aashrith Madura agrees. 

“Yes, definitely, video games have a lot of hand coordination, reflexes and thinking,” said Aashrith Madura, a graduate Computer Science major. “It could help your intelligence in different aspects.”

But he said people can become obsessed if they’re not careful. 

“If people are playing video games a lot… then they might be addicted to them,” Madura said. “I have seen people who play video games for 12 to 15 hours without sleeping.

“I had a personal friend who was playing video games for 15 hours a day, and he went into depression. He got fired from his job as well,” he said. “It’s because he was playing a lot, and he didn’t pay a lot of attention.”

Madura believes video games mentally affect your brain. 

“That’s why… you need to balance your life at times,” he said.  

DeCastro concurs. Though he admits to playing video games every day before going to work, he encourages balance. 

“Do video games make you stupid? No,” he said. “But I think [they can] take away from what you’re good at doing. … I think you have to have balance.”