Playing Call of Duty or Gears of War is not necessarily associated in people’s minds with improved mental function—better focus or an ability to switch attention quickly. Scientific studies, however, now show that, in fact, these games may be better at enhancing cognition than so-called brain games. Read “The Brain Boosting Power of Video Games” by Daphne Bavelier and C. Shawn Green, and watch a video of Bavelier’s TED Talk:
Games for Better Brains [Video]
Action video games in which a player is called on to shoot zombies may provide greater cognitive benefits than do explicit brain-training methods
![Games for Better Brains [Video]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/E67E3F36-D553-439E-ABFC8E006BFBD244_source.jpg?w=590&h=800&DCD2AC60-C791-4A6F-B778CBC609E2330D)
This article was originally published with the title "Games for Better Brains [Video]" in Scientific American 315, 1, (July 2016)
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