New research carried out shows how impulsive people are when a threat is within their sights. Researchers asked volunteers to play a basic video game like Pacman whereby the predator, a red dot, would chase their character about the screen. If the predator captured the player’s character then they received an electric shock. Analysis of the brain activity during game play showed an increased flow of blood to the middle of the brain when the attacker was close to the player’s character. The mid-brain activity is normally associated with reflex type activity rather than strategy and planning. The opposite to this is the pre-frontal cortex that controls rational thought and coordination. So in order to be better at video games you need to start exercising your pre-frontal cortex so that you can have the confidence to cope with more threats! source: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature