Are you a fan of the computer game Tetris? Well, a new study suggests that playing the highly visuospatial game may help reduce the frequency of traumatic flashbacks similar to the ones that haunt a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) victim.

Like Us on Facebook

In a recent study published in the Psychological Science journal, a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and Sweden's Karolinska Institutet conducted an experiment to participants by letting them watch a 12-minute video footage depicting disturbing sequences. On the following day, they had their memories of the film "reactivated" by looking at still shots that showed people in danger, injured or dying, Science magazine has learned.

Moreover, the scientists found that those who played Tetris, the famous computer game that may require the use of the same memory resources that scenic, sensory, and traumatic memories use, significantly had fewer flashbacks to the disturbing images over the next week. According to ABC News, researchers hypothesized that playing the game re-configures the visual memory, as the brain focuses on both the visual game and memory of the film.

Tetris is a computer game created more than 30 years ago that involves piling colorful blocks of varying size without leaving any gaps as they descend at ever increasing speed. Points are awarded for every unbroken row, up to a maximum of four, which then disappear. Although contemporary video games are quite more complex in graphics and gameplay, bored players have helped Tetris become the bestselling paid downloaded game of all time, The Independent revealed.

Meanwhile, researchers have said that the purpose of the experiment was to reduce "intrusive" memories associated with the trauma while recognizing the fact that these memories can include paralyzing flashbacks that cannot be controlled.

"From Marcel Proust's example of sudden childhood recall after eating a madeleine to flashbacks depicted in war films, involuntary memory has long held fascination," researchers said. "The current work bridges a clinical area of public concern (trauma viewing) with animal and human neuroscience."

Despite being a good solid research and an interesting hypothesis, Jaine Darwin, a Massachusetts-based psychologist who specializes in trauma and crisis intervention, remains skeptical that it could be applied to people who had survived an actual trauma.

Darwin added the study needs much more research and proof before it becomes applicable for patients. She also noted mental health professionals are currently working with patients to help them separate themselves from the event so they can view and grasp the trauma from a safe space.

"Memory in general is malleable and it changes over time," Darwin said. "In long-term psychotherapy, [patients] construct a new narrative."

Researchers have admitted that the difference between viewing such images and experiencing true trauma is great. However, the research opens the possibility that the easy-to-access game Tetris could provide some type of relief.

TagsTetris Health Benefit, Tetris, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, Tetris PTSD, puzzle, Memory, Stress