A new study by researchers from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China suggests that playing League of Legends can enhance brain function, with some effects lasting up to 10 weeks after gameplay.
The researchers conducted a 30-week study comparing League of Legends with the strategy card game Legends of the Three Kingdoms. The experiment involved 68 young participants with little to no prior gaming experience. They were divided into two groups: one played LoL for one hour a day, five days a week, while the other followed the same schedule with Legends of the Three Kingdoms.
Scientists evaluated players across several cognitive metrics, including spatial attention, spatial working memory, and executive function. They also monitored resting-state brain activity to identify changes in neural connectivity.
While both groups showed improvements in task performance, the League of Legends group demonstrated stronger gains in spatial attention and working memory.
Players in the LoL group also exhibited more significant changes in brainwave patterns, indicating increased efficiency in information processing. Notably, these positive effects remained evident even during follow-up testing 10 weeks after the experiment ended.
The authors note that different types of games may enhance cognitive abilities through distinct neural pathways. While strategy games are beneficial, action-oriented games like League of Legends appear to produce stronger and more lasting effects.
However, the researchers emphasize that the study involved only healthy college students and did not account for external factors such as academic workload, motivation, or gaming outside the experiment. Therefore, the findings do not prove that playing LoL will automatically make someone smarter, but they do show a measurable impact on attention, memory, and overall brain function.
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