Tetris Eases Post-traumatic Stress

Came across distressing images lately? Want to forget? Play Tetris. At least, thats what a new study conducted by Oxford University has found: patients with symptoms of post-traumatic stress had fewer flashbacks after playing a round of Tetris.

The experiment was carried out on a group of 40 volunteers who were shown distressing images of injuries. Some of them were then made to play Tetris for 30 minutes. The Tetris-playing sample was found to have recorded significantly fewerflashbacks of the images than the non-playing group.

“Tetris may work by competing for the brain’s resources for sensory information,” said Oxford’s Dr. Emily Holmes. “We suggest it specifically interferes with the way sensory memories are laid down in the period after trauma and thus reduces the number of flashbacks that are experienced afterwards.”

However, researchers admit that the tests are inconclusive as they do not compare to actual real-life traumatic events and that games have a real effect on human memory.