Digital games can be an overlooked ally in mental health care

Playing Wordle or Sudoku every morning with a cup of coffee probably won’t boost your brain power, but the mood and confidence these games provide are reason enough to keep playing, according to new research from the University of Oregon.

Researchers from the UO’s School of Journalism and Communications examined brain-training games, a collection of puzzles and quizzes marketed to sharpen the mind but have no scientific basis. According to Ulrich Mayr, professor of psychology at the UO, who signed a consensus statement from a panel of top neuroscientists in 2014, there is no robust evidence that brain training games can improve cognitive performance.

But games, or games that provide sufficient challenge, can help restore psychological well-being even if they do not promote cognitive health, according to a study led by Waseq Rahman, a doctoral candidate in communication and media studies.

Rahman and his colleagues, including UO assistant professor of game studies Maxwell Foxman, conducted the study by meeting the players where they were: the Google Play Store.

Their findings were published March 1 in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction.

While previous research used experiments to test whether such brain games could objectively improve cognition, the new study focused on the players’ subjective impressions collected in reviews for the most popular brain training apps.

“This really allowed us to get the raw consumer perspective and see if the people who actually play the games find them effective,” Foxman said. “It also provided a real diversity of stories, from veterans talking about retraining their brains after trauma to elderly people trying to train their brains as well as their bodies. We could have done interviews instead, but with this dataset we had access to a large repository of all these different stories.”

The researchers searched thousands of user reviews for brain training apps Lumosity, Elevate and Peak. With the help of their collaborator, David Markowitz of Michigan State University, they used an automated text analysis program and qualitative thematic analysis to evaluate and gauge users’ opinions and feelings toward the games.

The researchers were not surprised that there was a lack of consensus among users about the proposed cognitive benefits of the apps. Still, they were intrigued by the many reviews in which players said they appreciated the entertaining, challenging, and progress-tracking aspects of the gameplay. Many reviewers noted that they felt better and became more confident after playing, even though they weren’t sure if they had gained anything cognitively.

“Our findings show that people are not only getting better at these games, but they also enjoy getting better,” Foxman said. “This may be why people play Wordle or Sudoku every day. Enjoyment is a powerful personal, economic and cultural force that should receive more attention.”

Games can tap into people’s intrinsic psychological needs, Rahman said. Regular challenges can encourage and build a lasting sense of confidence and autonomy over one’s self and identity, and games are good at providing such an experience, he said.

Rahman warns that while media entertainment can help restore vitality and well-being, it is not permanent.

“For example, that’s why you play tennis over and over again,” he said. “You don’t play tennis once, feel competent and then you’re ready to go. This type of interactive entertainment helps you experience a sense of control, autonomy and fun by mastering challenges. But if and how this can lead to lasting impressions of our sense of self require extensive exploration.”

The study does not prove that brain training games, or games in general, are effective as therapeutic interventions, the researchers warn. But even though science doesn’t support brain games as cognitive boosters, Rahman said the “exercise jolt” and sense of personal achievement people get from playing games warrants further research into how these activities can meet individual needs for recovery and wellness .

“When it comes to cognitive and mental health, all we can do is be open to learning new and meaningful things,” Rahman said. “And I think games are great at giving you a framework to learn and challenge yourself in ways you can enjoy.”