However by now a considerable number of studies also demonstrate beneficial effects of video game training on cognition in longitudinal designs, supporting a causal relationship. Many of these previous studies on video games have investigated expertise effects, that is, they compared habitual gamers with non-gamers cross-sectionally. A recent meta-analysis on the cognitive domains that benefit from commercial video game playing has shown that particularly executive functions (or “information processing” as they call it) show improvements (Powers et al., 2013). Interestingly, these prior studies consistently show that action video game interventions in particular are associated with specific improvements in attention and processing speed (Green and Bavelier, 2003 Dye et al., 2009) as well as in executive functions such as flexible updating of task-relevant information (Colzato et al., 2013). Recent studies investigating the effects of training interventions using video games have shown improvements in cognitive function, although these studies have almost exclusively been performed on healthy young adults. Additionally, there is a discordance between the objective measures of cognitive dysfunction and the subjectively reported cognitive complaints, the latter being even more pronounced (Moritz et al., 2004), which may be due to a bias toward negative cognitive schemata that is commonly observed in major depression (Svendsen et al., 2012 Lam et al., 2014). Objective measures of executive function, attention, and short- and long-term memory reveal cognitive impairments in individuals with major depression (Hammar and Ardal, 2009 Gonda et al., 2015). Importantly, while treatments such as psychotherapy or medication have proven effective in improving mood, cognitive deficits oftentimes persist (Baune et al., 2010). Although affective symptoms, namely low mood accompanied by low self-esteem and a loss of interest in activities that others find enjoyable, are at the core of current diagnostic criteria for depression, cognitive dysfunction also plays a crucial role. In 2010, it was the second leading medical cause of disease burden, with particularly high numbers of disability in working age (Ferrari et al., 2013), making it a particularly costly disease for society. Future research may focus on the investigation of the precise cognitive profile of effects.ĭepression is among the major causes of global disease burden (Vos et al., 2012). The results show that the fast paced action video game employed in the present study improved Trail Making performance and may reduce rumination and enhance subjective cognitive ability. On a subsample with cognitive performance data ( n = 19) we detected an improvement in executive function (Trail Making Task A and B) in the training compared with the control group. The training group showed significantly higher subjective cognitive ability, as well as lower self-reported rumination at posttest in contrast to the control group (although these findings do not survive Bonferroni correction). The final sample consisted of n = 21 training group and n = 29 waitlist control group. Only participants who actually played the game were included in the analysis. Before and after training participants completed online questionnaires and a neuropsychological test battery. We recruited 68 clinically depressed individuals (mean age: 46 years, 47 females) that were randomized into the training group playing a fast paced action video game for 6 weeks or a waitlist control group.
We focussed on depressive symptoms and on rumination, since rumination is a good predictor of depression and may contribute to triggering depression. We therefore set out to test whether playing video games can reduce symptoms associated with depression. Recent work has demonstrated that playing action video games leads to improvements in cognition, in particular executive function, in healthy individuals. However, therapeutic strategies that successfully target cognitive impairments are lacking. Cognitive deficits are common in depression and may persist following the resolution of affective symptoms.
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