REAL LIFE NEWS: SEE, I TOLD YOU COMPUTER GAMES WERE GOOD FOR YOU!
by Hazed
Computer games such as Tetris can help you resist temptation by reducing cravings for food or alcohol, according to a new study.
There’s a theory called Elaborated Intrusion which says that our cravings are driven by visual images popping into our heads. Mmmmm, imagine the sight of that juicy cheeseburger or that luscious chocolate cake. I am salivating as I write this.
Psychology students at Plymouth University, England, decided to see if the cravings could be reduced by countering the visual images with a visual-based task such as a computer game.
They recruited a group of people to play Tetris, and another group who sat in front of a screen waiting for the program to load (these unfortunates never did get to play the game). Both groups were asked to rate their cravings before playing, and were found to have similar levels of craving. Then they were asked to rate the cravings again after three minutes. The game-players said they had significantly lower craving and less vivid craving imagery than the group which had just been waiting. In some cases the difference was as much as 24%.
The authors concluded that: “The findings support EI theory, showing that a visuospatial working memory load reduces naturally occurring cravings, and that Tetris might be a useful task for tackling cravings outside the laboratory.”
So next time you start to feel the urge to munch on chocolate, get stuck into a game of Tetris instead.
Source: http://io9.com/playing-tetris-for-3-minutes-reduces-cravings-for-food-1535170255
