A study conducted by Rumei Zhao and her colleagues from China and Canada presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of scientific publications. The authors found that regular video game playing is associated with a small but noticeable increase in cognitive abilities.
Study Methodology
To conduct the analysis, searches were performed in databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Wiley, EBSCO, Scopus, CNKI, and Wanfang. The review included 133 studies published between 2005 and 2025, covering over 14 thousand participants and containing 269 effect sizes. According to an assessment using the JBI Checklist tool, the quality of these studies was distributed as follows: average—69.93%, high—25.56%, and low—4.51%. The authors divided the analysis into three parts: correlational, intergroup comparative, and randomized controlled trials. The final results were published in the journal Acta Psychologica.
Key Findings on Cognitive Functions
Mixed-effects modeling demonstrated a link between video games and higher scores in various cognitive functions across all three types of meta-analyses. However, the effect sizes were small, with the most pronounced correlation being found specifically with memory (at p < 0.001 in all analyses). Although a trend was also observed for spatial reasoning, visual attention, cognitive control, and intelligence, it did not reach statistical significance.