Ladies, listen up! Want to feel more connected with your
man? Play video games with him! No,
seriously. A new study discovered that
playing video games together could bring players’ emotional responses and brain
activity into harmony.
This study, conducted by Helsinki Institute
for Information Technology, used fEMG (facial
electromyography) to measure facial muscle reactions and EEG
(electroencephalograph) to measure brainwaves.
According to Sovijärvi-Spapé, “Replicating previous studies, we found linkage in
the fEMG: two players showed both similar emotions and similar brainwaves at
similar times. We further observed a linkage also in the brainwaves with
EEG.” The study also revealed that the more
competitive the gaming gets, the more the players’ positive emotions begin to
reflect each other. The results provide
ground for further study, such as: “Feeling others'
emotions could be particularly beneficial in competitive settings: the linkage
may enable one to better anticipate the actions of opponents.”
So how do you feel about dusting off
that old N64 and playing some Mario Kart?
Do you think this could be beneficial to friends, or even couples? Do you think it would make people feel more
connected?
Check out the article here!
This is pretty awesome! Haha, but I think my boyfriend would laugh at the idea of letting me play video games! I imagine it's the same for other things too. I wonder if they'll start using this in like marriage counseling.
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