Despite controversy over violence and being the bad influence that they are, video games, at least those of the educational variety, were known to be beneficial to development.

Many games are programmed and geared towards promoting a student’s cognitive development, however one professor at Florida State University says there is little evidence to suggest this notion.

A new study has proved that video games do not really contribute to a person’s cognitive development. Dr. Walter Boot, assistant professor to the psychology department, says that there are methodological flaws to the whole gaming-is-good-for-you idea.

Researchers that helped with this study feel that although there are some instances where gamers are known to have a better reasoning ability than non-gamers, it is only because these people were intellectually capable to begin with and got addicted to gaming later on, and not the other way around. To further prove his point, Boot claimed that every volunteer recruitment poster for video game experiments contain the words “expert wanted” which proves that these particular researchers were expecting the gamers to have developed cognitive skills beforehand.

Such words and terms let “participants know how researchers expect them to perform on challenging, often game-like computer tests of cognition.

Boot, who grew up playing video games, said he was excited at first by research that suggested they helped cognitive development. But he said the research he and his colleagues performed could not replicate these findings.

“The idea that video games could enhance cognition was exciting because it represented one of the few cases in which cognitive training enhanced abilities that weren’t directly practiced,” Boot said. “But we found no benefits of video game training.”

The research says cognitive abilities that make game players good are what draws them to gaming.

Of course, what about the actual games geared towards education?

Unlike what Boot is selling, experts believe that these games make learning fun by using entertainment as an educational tool. These games take a specific type of learning or topic and build a game around that topic. For example, kids might learn math by playing a flying game. The hope is that the child will have fun and forget that they’re learning, but still maintain the knowledge they pick up while playing.

Of course, children’s educational games differ from adult games of the same type because they’re typically more basic and cover fewer concepts.

Boot feels that video games shouldn’t be the go-to system when it comes to improving cognition for any age, be it child, adult or senior citizen.

“If people are playing games to improve their cognition, they may be wasting their time,” Boot said. “Play games because you enjoy them, not because they could boost your brain power.”