Playing video games as a child is proven to bring lasting improvement in cognitive ability

During the experiment, participants were also subjected to 10 transcranial magnetic stimulation-non-invasive brain stimulation through the skin that can temporarily change the pattern of brain activity.

Palaus explained: "Using electromagnetic waves, when applied to the surface of the skull, they can generate electric currents in the underlying nerve group and change its activity."

Researchers hoped to find a way to combine video games with transcranial stimulation to improve cognitive performance, but the results are not satisfactory.

Palaus said: "Our goal is to achieve lasting improvement. Under normal circumstances, the effect of this stimulation can last from a few milliseconds to tens of minutes. We hope to improve the performance of certain brain functions for longer and strengthen cognitive ability."

In this project, the video game used is a 3-D action-adventure type, but other types of video games can also affect cognitive function.

According to Palaus, the biggest thing that games have in common is that they contain elements that make people want to play, and gradually become more and more difficult, and present continuous challenges. "These two things are making it attractive and motivating enough, which in turn requires constant and intensive use of our brain resources."

"Video game is the secret to enhance our cognitive abilities and imperceptibly help us to improve." However, he emphasized that this broader gain will only have a limited impact, just like most cognitive trainings.