Brain Games Can Make You Smart

Video games have to get a bad rap. Sure, some with nothing more than to show a number of deadly weapons, Undead and blasting them bajillion copies. And there have been cases where people wasting otherwise productive hours conquering a virtual kingdom accumulating pixelized gold instead of going out and finding a real job.

But there are many, many times, when video games actually provide a noble purpose in society. When you make a better person. Or at least, an intelligent person.

Since it is video games that are actually built on logic and reasoning and complex problem solving, you can take with you even if you walked away from the computer screen.

Take Tetris. Ok, so it's a couple of colorful blocks against a metallic, monotonous sound track - but it takes some quick thinking and analysis to assess the shape of the pieces fell from the top of the screen and decide what it is.

Speeding up the game on a regular basis, and a stack of blocks grows every mistake you make, until you reach a point where one wrong move can kill your chances of beating the world record, and your brain starts working fast enough .

Faster, in fact, often used during the day, admit that most things that the Office is very impressive, anyway. Among sharp pencils and perform spatial analysis exercises lightning speed, Tetris seems to be really good for you.

And then there's the memory game. I just spent 20 minutes looking for your keys? Or was in the middle of the parking lot, trying to remember if you parked on the same floor?

Well, memory games can work this muscle to the brain to remember the important things (and yes, that includes your wedding anniversary). Studies show that memory is not actually a function of IQ, is a skill: the ability to organize information in your brain, then back through a series of memory triggers.

Not all of this is conscious (although you can take active steps to improve memory by researching on the methods you can use). But like all skills, it improves with use.

Thus, memory games. The best part of memory games is that they are really fun (instead of just memorizing a list of the capitals of each state, or the periodic table of elements) and relaxation, even. Yes, relaxing. Do something you love and getting smarter at a time. Not a bad way to spend a 20-minute break between meetings.

And then there are strategy games. Conquer the world, running a city, the development of an empire from a handful of barbarian villages to become the first country to establish a space station on Mars, of course, it's not just randomly the game to shoot. They are about the same skills you learn in business school, but with cooler graphics: how to manage resources, motivate people, and objectives.

So yes, video games can make you smarter.