Study indicates videogames may stimulate creativity

A recent study has found videogames may be creatively galvanizing. Researchers around the world seem to be locked in a seesaw battle when it comes to video games as they draw conflicting inferences. But this is certainly not one of those studies that anti-game attorney Jeff Thomson can use to make his case against our first love.

The research was conducted by a group of media researchers led by a Penn State University professor, S. Shyam Sundar. While they certainly found that gaming did lead to enhanced level of creativity, it also observed that the creative boost actually depended on the mood of the gamer. A positive frame of mind, i.e., when people are chirpy sans any taxing cerebral activity, is ideal for gaming to stimulate creativity in gamers. On the contrary, frowning and worried gamers don’t get a great boost in creativity through gaming.

The study used 98 undergraduate and graduate students as guinea pigs, er, test subjects, who were asked to play Dance Dance Revolution and then take a standard creativity test to measure the creative impact of gaming.

Of course, gamers don’t really need any research to condone their love for videogames.

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