Do you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Playing Tetris might help you

[$5 submissions]

Besides being useful for wasting tons of time, Tetris might helps PTSD sufferrers avoid flashbacks that trigger anxiety

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/tech...lashbacks.html

Oxford University researchers think the game might help prevent the flashbacks that can signal the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Tetris, they said in a study published Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE, could be a ?cognitive vaccine? if played soon after exposure to traumatic events.

Researchers used two experiments. In one, 60 healthy participants watched a film featuring scenes involving injury and death. Then, after a half-hour break, one-third of the group played Tetris while the rest played a quiz-style video game or did nothing.

The Tetris players were found to have the fewest flashbacks; the players of the quiz players had the most. Researchers theorized that players who used language and trivia skills were tapping a different part of their brains that couldn?t interfere with the flashbacks, which use visual images.

The second experiment was nearly identical but involved 78 participants who took a four-hour break after viewing the film. The results were roughly the same.

[sandman!]

tetris is a fun oldschool game.

[seeandsee]

some one from russia made tetris

[ottopottomouse]

Makes sense.

Although they will have their heads full of Tetris instead and will probably be seeing the game in their sleep.