One of the world’s most popular first-person shooter games – Counter-Strike – could help to improve people’s cognitive abilities, according to research from the University of Sheffield.
The study, by scientists in the University’s School of Psychology, has found that experienced, highly skilled players of the game – which was first released 25 years ago – are faster at decision-making and executing a response. These veterans of the game were also found to be faster at choosing the correct course of action.
The study is the first to look at the impact that video games have on the cognitive abilities of gamers, ranging from complete novices to professional esports players. The scientists partnered with professional esports organisation Endpoint to help examine the impact that games have on highly skilled players.
Players with the highest level of expertise – semi/professionals – outperformed novices by an average of 88.94 milliseconds in a simple two choice decision-making task. Computational modelling revealed that this expertise advantage is primarily driven by faster stimulus encoding and response execution. In a more complex decision-making task, expert players also demonstrated quicker evidence accumulation, suggesting these Counter-Strike players have an edge in fast-paced environments where rapid decision-making is vital.
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The researchers believe the findings could have benefits beyond gaming – for example, they could be used to design training and interventions for those who work in high pressure environments in which fast, accurate decision-making is crucial, such as doctors, nurses, air traffic controllers and financial traders.
Professor Claudia von Bastian, Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Sheffield, said: “Counter-Strike is ideal for studying the impact that gaming has on our cognition as the fast-paced gameplay, in which two teams play competitively against each other, navigate a map and communicate with their teammates, requires a lot of cognitive processing. Players need to quickly grasp what is happening around them, juggle many different things at once and make decisions on what to focus on to help determine their success in the game.
“Video games can give us a safe arena in which to examine and learn more about how our cognitive abilities respond to high pressure situations. By studying cognitive processing in this way, we could start to develop new ways to nurture and support the cognitive abilities of people who work in environments where they need to make rapid, accurate decisions under intense pressure.”
The Sheffield scientists are building on the Counter-Strike study by collaborating with academics at the University of Geneva to compare how League of Legends impacts players’ psychology – a game that is played by more than 150 million people worldwide.
Despite its huge popularity and that of the battle arena genre, there has been hardly any research into the psychology of the games, which the Sheffield and Geneva team aims to address. The research group from Geneva includes Dr Benoit Bediou and PhD student Naïma Gradi, who is a retired League of Legends world champion.
Eleanor Hyde, a PhD student at the University of Sheffield’s School of Psychology, said: “I’ve been playing video games for most of my life, and like many gamers, I’ve often heard people dismiss them as being a waste of time. However, as a cognitive psychologist, I’ve always wondered whether there is more to gaming than people typically think. First-person shooter games like Counter-Strike require players to engage multiple cognitive abilities at once and make split-second decisions under intense time pressures.
“Our research explores how these experiences may influence skills such as decision-making, attention and learning. By examining how gaming relates to thinking and learning, this research not only challenges outdated misconceptions, but also reveals the fascinating ways in which this widely popular activity may relate to cognitive performance.
“It is well documented that video games can help people unwind, reduce stress and improve our health and wellbeing, but what we have seen in our research is that games like Counter-Strike can offer positive cognitive benefits as well. While this field of research is still in its early stages, we’re excited to expand our research to explore how different genres of games impact people’s psychology. For example, League of Legends, one of the most popular titles in gaming, has received surprisingly little research so far.”
Source: University of Sheffield
Published on February 20, 2025