Many claim that video games can make you smarter. Intelligence is broad, so we must determine how video games affect it. Many studies have shown that video games can have an impact on cognition. Let's look at these and ask: "Do video games make you smarter?"
Video games can increase your attention span, improve problem-solving and decision-making abilities in competitive environments, and improve memory and learning. Video games can improve cognitive skills, which society values.

Video Games and Attention

Green and Bavelier's study found that video games increase attentional control. This study found that action games are high-speed and have objects that quickly pop in and out of your visual field. These games offer the most significant benefits for attention and perceptual abilities.

Many action games require the player's attention to specific objects and entities. These objects and entities can be presented alone or with other distracting items. Action games can be used to increase selective attention. This is the ability to concentrate on one stimulus.
Action game players can track moving objects independently faster than non-video-game gamers. They have a greater spatial awareness than their non-gamers counterparts.
An assessment of ADD often used to screen for it found that gamers responded faster than those who did not play video games. They did not sacrifice speed for accuracy. Notably, the test identified their responses as anticipatory. This means that gamers relied more on anticipating than reacting. The study found that gamers are slower but less impulsive than non-gamers.
An experiment that examined 27 professional gamers and 30 amateur gamers found that action games were associated with greater gray matter volume in the brain.

How video games affect memory and learning

Attention and memory are closely linked. Games can improve attention and therefore affect memory. Let's look at some research.

A study conducted by McDermott et al. McDermott et al. compared the memory performance of action videogame players to that of non-gamers. In tasks that required retaining many memories, they found that action game players performed better than non-gamers. They also performed better with short-term visual-spatial memory tasks.
Ferguson, Cruz, and Rueda conducted a study that found video game play positively related to visual memory accuracy. This could be because video games prime the player to sense visual cues.
Researchers at the University of California found that 3D games can increase the formation of memories, hand-eye coordination, and reaction time.
Gnambs et al. conducted a study. Gnambs et al. found that video games can have a small impact on school performance but not intelligence.
Some preliminary research suggests that strategy games may increase brain function in older adults and possibly even protect against Alzheimer's and dementia.
Lorenza et al. found that gaming improves brain flexibility in monitoring and updating new information. Gamers have a higher memory capacity.

Problem-Solving and Video Games

Many video games require extensive problem-solving. Different games may require different types of problem-solving.

In 2013, a longitudinal study found that strategy game playing was positively related to problem-solving ability and school grades. This means that teens who reported playing strategy games had better problem-solving abilities.
Michigan State University researchers conducted a study on 500 12-year-olds. The study found that children were more creative when playing video games than when they wrote stories or illustrated pictures. Creativity was not affected by using computers, smartphones, the internet, and other devices, except video games. The increase in creativity did not depend on whether the game was violent or non-violent.
University of Glasgow research found that video gaming improves communication skills, flexibility, resourcefulness, and communication. Video games also increase critical thinking and reflective learning abilities. These qualities are essential for graduates and desirable to employers looking to hire from a university.

Spatial Intelligence and Video Games

Many video games, mainly 3D, require gamers to have excellent spatial skills to navigate complex environments. Let's look at some studies on the link between spatial intelligence and video games.

Green and Bavalier discovered that video games could significantly increase the ability of inexperienced gamers to turn complex shapes in their minds. The study also showed that people trained to play action video games had a more remarkable ability to identify one object among many distracting things.
Another study found that video game player had a quicker response time to visual search tasks, both easy and more complex than non-gamers.
Avid action-video-game players could identify a peripheral target among distracting objects more accurately than non-action-video-game players. Researchers presented a series of objects to them, each briefly described by the researchers. The researchers found that gamers were more able to process the visual stream than non-gamers. They were also able to track more objects than non-video game players.
An fMRI study by Granek et al. It was found that prolonged gaming can alter the brain's ability to process complex visual tasks. This makes the circuitry more efficient.

How video games impact decision making

Action games require fast, quick decision-making abilities. Even under pressure, avid gamers can make quick decisions. These are some of the findings from relevant research.

Participants aged 18-25 were divided into two groups during the study. One group played Call of Duty 2 or Unreal Tournament for 50 hours, while the other played 50 hours of Sims 2. The action game players could make decisions 25% faster than the other group in a task unrelated to video games and without losing accuracy.
One study looked at ways to improve traditional training methods to reduce bias and improve decision-making abilities. Interactive video games enhance decision-making skills in both the short and long term. In immediate tests, bias susceptibility was decreased by 31%, while it will remain lower for three months.

Video Games and IQ

What is IQ? What is IQ?

IQ stands for intelligence quotient. Researchers created it to assess how someone can use information and reasoning to answer questions or make predictions. IQ tests measure short-term and longer-term memory, and how fast one can solve puzzles or recall information. This helps researchers determine if they are testing for the same type of intelligence. It does not capture the complexity of the mind. Other factors, such as economic and social status, can also influence IQ. Success is also affected by emotional intelligence (EQ).

Although intelligence is an indicator, IQ does not necessarily indicate intelligence. It can be a good indicator of success as a predictor of someone's life. The more intelligent someone is, the more likely they will solve problems, learn new skills, and achieve great things. It cannot predict how people will perform in specific situations like science, engineering, or art. It takes more than intelligence to be successful in life -- it requires persistence, ambition, and the ability to take advantage of opportunities.

Are Video Games a Good Way to Increase Your IQ?

Because games filter and select for higher fluid intelligence, they provide an intellectual challenge to kids who need to be challenged more in school. Studies show that children are drawn to challenge and mastery. This creates a feedback loop.

What does the research say?

The University of York conducted a study that found a correlation between high intelligence levels and young people's skills in two popular video games, League of Legends and Dota 2.

The study created two groups. The first group displayed their League of Legends skills and took an intelligence test using pen and paper. The second group was divided into Dota 2 gamers and gamers who played shooting games (Destiny or Battlefield 3).

First, the researchers found that MOBA players had higher IQs than those playing traditional strategy games like chess. Researchers found that MOBA players had consistent performance and IQ as they grew older. However, shooter players' performance decreased after their teens.

Although games can show IQ indicators, it does not mean they can boost them.

Is there a correlation between higher IQ and an increased risk of addiction?

Because they are not challenged enough at school or work, more intelligent people are more likely than others to become addicted to video gaming. Recognize who you are as a player to overcome your gaming addiction. Gamers are more intelligent than the average person. Although intelligence is a valuable trait in society, more is needed to be successful.

Gamers use their high IQs to justify their failure and gain an ego boost. High intelligence can be used to justify not working hard and aiming for success. This is how intelligence leads us to avoidance.

Conclusion

Intelligence can be complex and challenging to understand. It is, therefore, difficult to determine if playing video games makes you smarter. We can, however, measure specific aspects of our cognition and how video games affect it. It needs to be made clear how video games affect our understanding. This is because video games are chosen for those with greater attention, memory, learning, problem-solving, and decision-making skills than the average. Gamers rank higher in cognitive abilities than the rest.