Modern video games are not known for their calming influence. Sweating, swearing and mouthing off to authority figures—those are the kinds of responses you expect from gamers. But McGill University researchers have created a computer game that is shown to reduce production of the stress-related hormone cortisol.
The McGill team—Prof. Baldwin, Ph.D. graduates Stéphane Dandeneau and Jodene Baccus and graduate student Maya Sakellaropoulo—created a suite of games based on the science of social intelligence, a discipline that suggests a significant amount of daily stress comes from social perceptions of the world.
In a recent study they recruited 23 employees of a Montreal-based call centre to play one of their games, which involved clicking as quickly as possible on the smiling face among many frowning faces on the screen. The game trains the mind to orient more toward positive aspects of social life, according to Baldwin. The employees played each workday morning for a week and completed daily stress and self-esteem questionnaires, and then had their cortisol levels tested at the end of the experiment.
The group showed an average 17-percent reduction in cortisol production compared to a control group.
“There are many possible applications for this kind of game,” Baldwin said, “from helping people cope with the social anxiety of public speaking or meeting new people, to helping athletes concentrate more on their game rather than worrying about performing poorly.”
The game will soon be available for purchase through the McGill group’s company, MindHabits.
Mobile data and voice are great, as long as the signal is strong. And while mobile networks are pretty good these days, road warriors quickly discover that dead zones still exist.
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Modern video games are not known for their calming influence. Sweating, swearing and mouthing off to authority figures—those are the kinds of responses you expect from gamers. But McGill University researchers have created a computer game that is shown to reduce production of the stress-related hormone cortisol. 
