Moms don’t get angry right away, I know it looks like an interesting announcement but according to a Keele University study conducted by Dr. Richard Stephens, playing violent video games can increase your pain threshold.
One of Stephens’ two experiment groups, played a golf game, and the second played a first person shooter. Then both groups were asked to stick their hands in cold water.
The group that played violent games improved their time before having to take their hand out by 65%. Stephens attributes this to the game triggering the fight-or-flight response in the brain.
In terms of pain research, Stephens sees applications in assisting patients by reducing their pain load before they have to go through a short non-surgical procedure as part of a hospital. The study also notes that virtual reality has been used to help burn victims deal with the painful process of changing wrappings.
I am not sure spending hours in Tamriel will make you need less aspirin but emphasizing the upsides of gaming is a good thing. And research is always good as long as you don’t flay animals while conducting it.
In any case, I’m pretty sure someone will play a violent game for long hours and then have a friend punch them in the face. I eagerly await the research log these amateur scientists will post on YouTube.
N.
Via: GT