Children who spend more time playing video games may be at a higher likelihood of increased intelligence more so than average, according to researchers at Karolinska Institutet.
In the study, released in Scientific Reports, varying types of screen time were assessed for its impact on the children’s cognitive abilities, such as intelligence.
More than 9,000 American children took part in the study, having been assessed for intelligence at age 9 to 10 and two years after.
The study showed that children who spent more time playing video games rather than social media or watching TV saw an increase in intelligence.
“Here we estimated the effect of each three types of screen time (Watching TV and online videos, Socializing via social media, text, and video chat, and Gaming) on intelligence after accounting for each other’s screen type, socioeconomic status, and genetic predisposition for intelligence,” the study states.
“Broadly, our results are in line with research on the malleability of cognitive abilities from environmental factors, such as cognitive training and the Flynn effect.”
