Study finds League of Legends may boost some cognitive skills more than turn-based card game
League of Legends [Photo: Epic Games]
[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] A study has found that the real-time competitive game League of Legends (LoL), also known as “LoL,” may have a greater effect on improving some cognitive abilities than a turn-based strategy card game. It also found the effects tended to last longer even after players stopped playing.
On April 28, Japan’s ITmedia reported that researchers at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China analysed differences in cognitive function changes by game genre in a paper published in the journal Brain Sciences in December 2025. The study compared LoL, a representative multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, with the turn-based strategy card game Sanguosha.
The researchers recruited 68 university students with less than 50 hours of gaming experience over the past year. They had them play each game for 1 hour a day, 5 days a week, for 5 months. They then conducted six rounds of cognitive tasks and five rounds of electroencephalogram measurements, before and during play, at the end point, and up to 10 weeks after play ended.
Both groups showed improvements in cognitive ability. The researchers said they reaffirmed the existing observation that sustained, high cognitive-load activity strengthens brain function regardless of game type. Participants’ scores improved in all three cognitive tasks.
The differences by genre were clear. The LoL group performed significantly better than the Sanguosha group on tasks requiring rapid situation assessment and tracking multiple goals. The gap remained 10 weeks after the games ended, and some indicators widened further. The researchers assessed this as meaning the effects were stronger and longer-lasting.
The EEG analysis also showed notable changes. In both groups, power increased in the slow-frequency delta-theta band, while connectivity between brain regions decreased in the alpha band. The researchers interpreted the delta-theta increase as a sign of strengthened learning and adaptation, and the reduction in alpha connectivity as an efficient state with less unnecessary information exchange.
The magnitude of these changes was also greater in the real-time game group. The researchers explained that the decline in alpha-band connectivity could be the result of higher brain network efficiency and lower energy use.
A key point was the persistence of the effects. Even 10 weeks after participants stopped playing, cognitive performance and EEG changes were maintained or became stronger. The researchers suggested that brain reorganisation may have continued after play ended.
The study is meaningful in that it analysed how games affect cognitive function by distinguishing differences in genre characteristics. It suggests cognitive changes may differ depending on whether a game’s structure centres on real-time decision-making and multitasking or on logical reasoning and long-term strategy.
The researchers concluded that both games had positive effects on improving cognitive performance and changing brain function, but that in some indicators the real-time competitive game showed greater magnitude and persistence.
