Old Study Showing Super Mario 64 Grows Grey Matter Resurfaces Online
A 2014 Molecular Psychiatry study linking Super Mario 64 play to brain grey-matter growth is going viral again after being resurfaced on X.
What to know
- The underlying research is not new: a 2014 study in Molecular Psychiatry measured brain scans before and after two months of daily Super Mario 64 play.
- The study found increases in grey matter in three brain regions associated with memory, spatial navigation and fine motor planning, according to the resurfaced summary.
- The renewed attention stems from an X post by @anishmoonka, who is described as known for surfacing curious old scientific findings.
- Coverage outlets like Time Extension summarized the resurfaced study rather than reporting new findings.
Anish Moonka X user who resurfaced the study
How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump posts
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Time Extension recap circulates on Reddit
A Reddit post summarized a Time Extension article recapping the resurfaced study, crediting Moonka for rediscovering it and restating the grey-matter findings for a wider audience.
“Playing video games grows your brain.”
— Time Extension (via Reddit post) -
Do you need surgery for your brain to fit inside your skull again or how does it work. 😏
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Anish Moonka resurfaces the 2014 study on X
X user @anishmoonka posted a summary of the 2014 findings, framing it as video gaming physically growing players' brains, which quickly gained wide attention.
“Playing Super Mario 64 for 30 minutes a day for two months physically grew the brains of the people who played it.”
— @anishmoonka -
Playing Super Mario 64 for 30 minutes a day for two months physically grew the brains of the people who played it. A 2014 study in Molecular Psychiatry scanned participants before and after two months of daily play and found increases in grey matter in three regions involved in
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background
Researchers publish Super Mario 64 brain-plasticity study — A study in Molecular Psychiatry scanned participants' brains before and after two months of playing Super Mario 64 for 30 minutes daily, finding increased grey matter in three brain regions.