Oxford Study showed playing Tetris Reduce Stress After Traumatic Event

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Perhaps in the future EMT's will carry handheld Tetris games to help trauma victims?

Oxford University conducted two separate experiments and found playing Tetris can calm the mind after viewing traumatic images if played within 4 hours.

They believe that it works because:

 "The mind is considered to have two separate channels of thought: one is sensory and deals with our direct perceptual experience of the world through sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. The other channel is conceptual, and is responsible for putting together these perceptual experiences in a meaningful way – putting them into context. Generally, these two channels work in balance with each other, for example, we would use one channel to see and hear someone talk and the other to comprehend the meaning of what they are saying."

However, a traumatic event disrupts the channels more towards perceptions, such as the sights, sounds and sensations felt in an auto accident.  These perceptions become flashbacks that result in post traumatic stress disorders.

The researcher believe that the moving shapes of colored blocks in Tetris competes with the "perception channel" and mitigates the memory of the images of trauma.

For the complete article click here