Pesquisadores of Universidade of Ciência and Tecnologia Eletrônica of China found that playing League of Legends produced measurable improvements in attention, memory and brain function. The positive effects remained detectable ten weeks after the end of the experiment, according to data presented by the scientists. The study followed 68 young adults with little previous gaming experience for 30 weeks.
Metodologia and game comparison
A group of participants played League of Legends one hour a day, five days a week. The other group, for comparison purposes, played Legends of the Three Kingdoms, a strategic card game with the same frequency and duration. The researchers tested the participants at several points in time, assessing spatial attention, spatial working memory and executive function.
Ambos groups showed improvements on several cognitive tasks during follow-up. Porém, the group that played League of Legends, made significantly greater gains in spatial attention and working memory. The analysis also recorded resting brain activity from each participant, revealing that the League of Legends group showed more pronounced changes in brain wave patterns.
Alterações neural and brain efficiency
The data showed that changes in brain wave patterns indicate greater efficiency in the brain’s processing of information. According to researchers, different types of games stimulate different neural pathways, but action games like League of Legends produce stronger and longer-lasting effects. Essa difference suggests that the competitive and dynamic nature of the game offers more robust cognitive challenges.
- Space Atenção: group of League of Legends showed greater gains than players of Legends of the Three Kingdoms
- Working Memória: More significant and lasting improvement in the strategic action group
- Executive Função: both improved, but differences favored the group of League of Legends
- Padrões brainwaves: most striking changes in League players detected by electroencephalogram
- Resultados follow-up: benefits maintained ten weeks after the end of the experiment
Persistência of Cognitive Gains
The most relevant aspect of the research was the persistence of cognitive gains. Quando participants were tested again ten weeks after finishing the experiment; improvements in attention and memory were still visible. Isso differentiates League of Legends from many cognitive interventions, the effects of which diminish rapidly after termination.
The authors argue that this durability may be related to the strategic challenges and continuous motor demand that League of Legends imposes. The game requires rapid processing of visual information, real-time tactical planning and decision-making under pressure. Essas activities can consolidate neuroplastic changes more robustly than static tasks or less dynamic games.
Limitações and scientific context
It is important to contextualize the findings within their real limitations. The study involved only young, healthy college students, a population not representative of all ages and health conditions. The researchers also did not fully control for external factors such as individual motivation, academic workload, or gaming outside of the experiment.
The findings do not prove that simply playing League of Legends will automatically make everyone smarter. The effects appear measurable and consistent in the tested group, but the full biological mechanism still requires further investigation. Diferentes player profiles can respond differently to the same stimuli, and genetic factors can influence the magnitude of cognitive improvements.
Implicações for Brain Health
The findings are part of a larger context of research on how leisure activities impact brain health. Videogames, often criticized for negative effects, emerges here as a potential cognitive training tool. The mechanism proposed by the authors involves brain plasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganize neural connections in response to stimuli.
League of Legends, due to its competitive and dynamic nature, offers a constant challenge that forces this type of reorganization. Quando the player faces new scenarios and rapidly changing environments, the brain activates multiple neural networks simultaneously. Essa repeated activation, over weeks, consolidates cognitive gains and produces measurable changes in overall brain function.
