Scientists said that research that included 491 12-year old boys and girls found the frequency of video game playing directly impacted their ability to draw pictures and write stories. However, the general use of cell phones, the Internet and computers was unrelated to creativity. The result showed that boys played more games than girls – and boys preferred “games of violence and sports: while girls liked games “involving interaction with others”. The type of game did not have an impact on the level of gained creativity.

It was not clear what exactly triggered greater creativity in games, however, and researchers said that game designers should “identify the aspects of video game activity” that nurtures creativity.

“Once they do that, video games can be designed to optimize the development of creativity while retaining their entertainment values such that a new generation of video games will blur the distinction between education and entertainment,” said Linda Jackson, professor of psychology and lead researcher on the project.

MSU said that they used the Torrance Test of Creativity-Figural to assess the creativity of kids. The suite includes tasks such as drawing a picture from a curved shape, giving the picture a title and then writing a story about it.

via MichiganStateUniversity