Headlines about gaming tend to swing between "it rots your brain" and "it makes kids smarter". A large study published in JAMA Network Open in 2022 gives a more useful picture.
The study
Researchers led by Bader Chaarani at the University of Vermont looked at 2,217 children aged 9 and 10 from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, the largest long-term study of brain development in the US.
They compared children who played video games for three or more hours a day with children who didn't play at all.
What they found
- Gamers performed better on tasks measuring impulse control and working memory.
- Brain scans showed differences in activity in areas linked to attention and memory during those tasks.
- The results held after accounting for behaviour problems, mental health conditions and time spent watching videos.
What it doesn't prove
This was a snapshot, so it shows an association, not cause and effect. It's possible that children with stronger memory and attention are drawn to games. The data also didn't record which games children played. The researchers said follow-up data is needed.
The takeaway for families
Gaming isn't automatically harmful, and it can be linked with real cognitive strengths. The bigger picture still matters: three hours of gaming is fine on a day that also includes sleep, school, movement and friends, and a problem on a day that doesn't. That's the balance we coach for. See our guide to healthy screen time.
