Therapist Unlimited Blog

A recent research has shown that playing the computer game tetris offers benefits to human brain.
According to the study made by Mind Research Network in Albuquerque brain imaging they conducted shows playing Tetris leads to a thicker cortex and may also increase brain efficiency.
To get the data, the researchers used brain imaging and Tetris to investigate whether practise makes the brain efficient because it increases gray matter.
The research team for 30 minutes a day over a three-month period, 26 adolescent girls played Tetris, a computer game requiring a combination of cognitive skills.
The girls completed both structural and functional MRI scans before and after the three-month practise period, as did girls in the control group who did not play Tetris.
A structural MRI was used to assess cortical thickness, and a functional MRI was used to assess efficient activity.

It’s time to play tetris since it is beneficial to the brain.

The girls who practised showed greater brain efficiency, consistent with earlier studies. Compared to controls, the girls that practised also had a thicker cortex, but not in the same brain areas where efficiency occurred.
Dr. Rex Jung, a co-investigator on the Tetris study and a clinical neuropsychologist revealed one of the most surprising findings of brain research in the last five years was that juggling practise increased gray
matter in the motor areas of the brain.
Jund added they did their tetris study to see if mental practise increased cortical thickness, a sign of more gray matter.
He said if it did, it could be an explanation for why previous studies have shown that mental practise increases brain efficiency.
He added more gray matter in an area could mean that the area would not need to work as hard during Tetris play.
Furthermore, the researchers hope to continue this work with larger, more diverse samples to investigate whether the brain changes we measured revert back when subjects stop playing Tetris.
Similarly, they are interested if the skills learned in Tetris, and the associated brain changes, transfer to other cognitive areas such as working memory, processing speed, or spatial  reasoning.