Does your head get better with games? The effect of tetris thickening the cerebral cortex is revealed

By playing with TetrisCerebral cortexIt became thicker, and the brain efficiency was also improved, proved by brain imaging.

As a child, I think that many people have been angry with "Do not just play games!", But the practice of playing moderately every day may actually improve your head.

Details are as below.Is Tetris Good For The Brain?

BMC Research NotesThis research by the research institution Mind Research Network located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, states that the influence on the brain by practicing the game is structurallyMagnetic resonance imagingIt seems that the point that it was investigated by two imaging methods such as structural MRI and functional magnetic resonance imaging (functional MRI) is new.

According to "study" in researchgray matterTo increase the brain's performance, we used a game "Tetris" that requires a combination of cognitive skills. In the experiment, 26 girls with adolescence were asked to play with tetris every 30 minutes every 3 months for a period of three months and scanned with structural MRI and functional MRI at the beginning and the end of the 3 month period, playing with Tetris The girls in the control group who did not do the same shooting as well. Structural MRI was used to analyze the cortical thickness and functional MRI was used to analyze the efficient activity of the brain.

The group practicing Tetris was observed to have increased activity activity of the brain compared with before practice and confirmed the results of research up to this time in this field. Also, the cortex was thicker than the control group, but it seems that the thickness has increased in the part different from the part where the activity efficiency was raised.

The red part of the image shows the part where the cortex becomes thick, and the blue shows the part where the activity efficiency has increased. The left image is the left hemisphere and the right is the right hemisphere.

© J. Haier et al, BMC Research Notes 2009

Broadman's brain mapIn a classification byBA 6(Brodmann Area 6: pre-exercise field / supplementary motor area), BA 22 (Wernicke Field),BA 38It was observed that the thickness of the cortex increased with the middle temporal movement. It is believed that BA 6 is involved in the planning of complex motions combining multiple motions, and BA 22 and BA 38 are thought to involve multisensory integration (summarizing information by visual, auditory, tactile, etc.) I will.

On the other hand, BA 32 (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex), BA 6, BA 8 (frontal ophthalmoscopy), BA 9 (prefrontal cortex), BA 46 (prefrontal dorsolateral Department), BA 40 (Edge), mainly in the right frontal lobe and parietal lobe. These parts are considered to be responsible for critical thinking, logical thinking, languages ​​and so on.

"One of the most striking results of research in this field over the past five years is the finding that the gray matter of the motor cortex increases as a result of practicing juggling," said Dr. Rex Jung, a clinical neuropsychologist who participated in this study. "We conducted an experiment of this Tetris to see if exercise of intellectual activity thickens the cortex, and if it gets thicker, the brain's efficiency will rise by intellectual training in previous studies I can explain the reason for the result.The increase in the thickness of the cortex means that the gray matter is increased, and if the gray matter increases, it will become possible to handle Tetris even if that part of the brain does not try so hard That's it. "

"We saw the difference in the thickness of the cerebral cortex of the girls who did not play Tetris and the girls who did not do Tetris and we were very excited," we discovered that the efficiency of the brain increases with Tetris' practice 1992 Dr. Richard Haier, the lead researcher of the study and participating in this research, says. "But it was surprising that the cortex became thicker in areas different from the place where the activity efficiency rose, the relationship between the thickening of the cortex and the improvement of the efficiency of the brain is still enigmatic "

Researchers continue to conduct research with a larger variety of subjects in the future and they also want to investigate whether Tetris' effect on the brain is a reversible thing to return to when it ceased practicing. Also, I am interested in whether brain changes related to skills worn by Tetris will affect other areas of cognition (work memory, processing speed, spatial recognition, etc.).