Casual games boost cognitive function, says study

After reading the results of the study conducted by East Carolina University’s Psychophysiology Lab, I feel a bit better about wasting my life away playing all the little casual games that our PCs, phones, and other devices enable. It seems that playing these casual games, like PopCap’s Peggle or Bejeweled, can amp up your cognitive function.

Dr. Carmen Russoniello, Director of the Psychophysiology Lab and Biofeedback Clinic at ECU, says that there’s a possible future for these types of games to be prescribed to stave off Alzheimer’s disease and other dimentia-type disorders.

The study measured brain waves and other markers of a study group that played casual games. Ones that spent 30 minutes going at Bejeweled showed an 87% improvement in cognitive response time and a 215% increase in executive functioning when compared to a control group.

So go on. Play. It’s good for your brain.

Speaking of Peggle, check out this 13+ million point score single shot in the video above.

[Update: …on the Peggle points, not on the study. PopCap sent over a video that tops the 13+ million score. Some UK-based day trader hit 18 million in Peggle. See the video after the jump.]