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Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

Study: Tetris wipes out bad memories, heals trauma

By | January 10, 2009, 2:21pm PST

Summary: One of the oldest toys in computing history, Tetris, has the power to heal trauma, according to new research by Oxford University psychologists. To perform the study, Oxford researchers showed subjects graphic images of violence: accidents, crushed skulls, bloody entrails and so forth. Then they asked half the group to play Tetris. The Tetris players reported [...]

Tetris necklaceOne of the oldest toys in computing history, Tetris, has the power to heal trauma, according to new research by Oxford University psychologists.

To perform the study, Oxford researchers showed subjects graphic images of violence: accidents, crushed skulls, bloody entrails and so forth. Then they asked half the group to play Tetris. The Tetris players reported fewer bad memories of the ugly images than did those who did not play the game.

Naturally, the researchers are looking into how this may help people (certainly military vets) deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to Dr. Emily Holmes of Oxford’s psychiatric department, the results are because Tetris helps blocks the mind from storing painful memories. The catch? You must play the game immediately after the traumatic experience. (Pack your emergency Gameboy, folks.)

More specifically, according to Holmes, Tetris has such an effect because the game, for which you must have intense concentration, competes for your brain’s resources for sensory information, and interferes with the way sensory memories are laid down in the period after trauma. As a result, fewer flashbacks are experienced afterward. [via; via]

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Andrew Nusca

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Andrew J. Nusca is an editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet. As a journalist based in New York City, he has written for Popular Mechanics and Men's Vogue and his byline has appeared in New York magazine, The Huffington Post, New York Daily News, Editor & Publisher, New York Press and many others. He also writes The Editorialiste, a media criticism blog.

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Talkback Most Recent of 16 Talkback(s)

  • I call BS
    Come on people. You have to be more than an idiot to believe this kind of junk studies.

    I can understand saying that playing a game (no matter what kind) can help to keep the mind active, but wiping out bad memories?? healing trauma??

    Talk about a BS conclusions. So you (temporarily) forget your sorrows and aches when having fun .... woopyy doooo!! Talk about the stating obvious.

    But saying that a video game will wipe out bad memories and heal traumas is nothing more than ridiculous.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    wackoae
    11th Jan 2009
  • Wipe Out?
    Maybe reading comprehension should be in your educational future. The story said "fewer" memories, not that there were none. They are also talking about permament memory imprints, not temporary ones. Actually, did you even read the story?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    CheezHead59
    12th Jan 2009
  • Yes ... same response
    But apparently you don't even have common sense to understand my response.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    wackoae
    13th Jan 2009
  • RE: Study: Tetris wipes out bad memories, heals trauma
    I agree with the 1st poster.
    The study reported by you so far says nothing that other attention demanding endeavors cannot give the same or similar effect, for one.
    But, more importantly, since the stimulus was superficial exposure to negative phenomenon, there is no testing whether the results are long lasting. That would be of decided value.
    Temporary relief by distraction needs no study. That's in the public knowledge already.
    But, that any game or similarly intensive activity, can have more than a temporary effect on actual trauma incurred in the arena or battlefield of life's journey, is not being tested here.
    That which can achieve the above named goals so spuriously claimed, is noteworthy.
    The study, as represented, is not.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    PreachJohn
    11th Jan 2009
  • ZDNet Gravatar
    cb77305
    12th Jan 2009
  • RE: Study: Tetris wipes out bad memories, heals trauma
    And just how much in federal grants did this "study" suck down?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    raelalt
    12th Jan 2009
  • RE: Federal Grants
    How about 'none'? The study was done at Oxford. If it wasn't the Oxford in England, then it would say so. When you say 'Federal grants' that sounds like US.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    trybble1
    12th Jan 2009
  • Backfire!
    It makes perfect sense that intense concentration on an unrelated task would help you forget something that would otherwise stick in your mind a while. Mostly, though, it demonstrates how harmful the games can be to school kids and anyone else tasked with remembering something useful in their lives. If Tetris can help you forget pictures of gory, busted bodies, imagine it's effect on what you were supposed to remember from Geometry class.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    kidtree
    12th Jan 2009
  • RE: Study: Tetris wipes out bad memories, heals trauma
    I also suppose it is dependent on what games are played. I don;t suppose that a vet from Iraq would benefit much from playing hours upon hours of "Call of Duty".
    ZDNet Gravatar
    burtoni
    12th Jan 2009
  • Strange...The first 2 respondants can't read
    It was quite obvious...The first two comments were posted by people either functionally illiterate or too darn lazy to read. If these guys are IT, I hope they are nowhere near my system or net
    ZDNet Gravatar
    olddogv
    12th Jan 2009
  • No, can't remember
    They were playing Tetris while they read the article.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    pdf6161
    12th Jan 2009
  • RE: Study: Tetris wipes out bad memories, heals trauma
    I do not believe this would apply to just "any" game, certainly not modern action games, which could certainly have been used as the source for the test trauma. Tetris itself is representative of a certain type of game, one of concentration and focus, which stimulates different parts of the brain than the original trauma, which as a result, lowers the chance of recall of the event. You may want to find your way to EBSCOHost or your local library and retrieve the actual article and not this crap-for-summary version, it is quite interesitng.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    kularski
    12th Jan 2009
  • It makes sense.
    Unfortunately while studying the brain you cannot usually cut your subject open to check if you caused the results intended.
    It is known that we retain what the brains decide is important. One criteria appears to be repetition. If we focus over and over on something our brain will think it is important and will remember it and store it permanently overnight.
    By playing an intense concentration game immediately after a traumatic event would likely be effective at keeping you from repeating the events and pictures in your mind and therefore help you to forget the intensity of the feelings you had. What a marvelous tool we have. Too bad so many don't know how to use it???
    ZDNet Gravatar
    provincialplace@...
    12th Jan 2009
  • RE: Study: Tetris wipes out bad memories, heals trauma
    OK ladies and gentlemen, let's break this down. The idea is that playing a video game that requires intense consentration seems to have the effect of preventing the brain from storing information. Since there is nothing in the study which would indicate that either the video game or the brain mades an intentional effort to block only bad memories, then it must be concluded that all memories are affected. It is also reasonable to expect that memory is not the only function of the brain impacted. We will pause here to wait for the lifetime gamers to catch up...
    Do we really want it to get out that playing video games interferes with life?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    adamst99
    12th Jan 2009
  • RE: Study: Tetris wipes out bad memories, heals trauma
    The study suggests that Tetris be used as a treatment/preventative for PTSD. Fight a bloody battle, or witness an accident, go play Tetris to help you forget. It wasn't recommended for ordinary people in ordinary situations.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    interested bystander
    21st Jan 2009

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