Can Gaming Strengthen Your Brain?

<p>Up<em>up, down down, left right, left right, B A, select start</em>. If, like me, you grew up in the 1990s and played video games, that bit of gibberish needs no explanation. It&rsquo;s a famous Nintendo &ldquo;cheat code&rdquo; that grants a player unlimited lives or other gameplay perks.</p> <p>I learned it during the countless days I spent as a kid playing&nbsp;<em>Super Contra</em>, a game that pitted two Rambo-esque soldiers against an army of robot-alien invaders. My brothers and I would sit together in our basement, cracking jokes, thumbs aflutter, for hours at a stretch.</p> <p>I&rsquo;m sure that our video game habit helped preserve my parents&rsquo; sanity during our years of frenzied, hyperactive boydom. But the idea that&nbsp;<em>Mega Man</em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>The Legend of Zelda</em>&nbsp;might have been strengthening my brain or bolstering my mental health would have seemed preposterous to them.&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/@mheidj/can-gaming-strengthen-your-brain-6977a983a94c"><strong>Website</strong></a></p>