A new study conducted by researchers at East Carolina University suggests that playing casual games like Peggle or Bejeweled can have a significant impact on a player's mood or stress level, but you don't have to take their word for it. You can take mine – I was one of the subjects tested for the study.

The purpose of the experiment, which was underwritten by PopCap Games, was not only to determine whether or not playing casual games had any effect on a person's mental state, but to attempt to quantify the change with some kind of hard data. Saying that gaming is relaxing may seem obvious to those of us who play regularly, but Dr. Carmen Russoniello and his team at ECU wanted to obtain evidence to back up the feeling, if possible.

Doing my part for science had sounded exciting when I was first approached about being part of the study, but as I watched a lovely young assistant head my way with a coil of wires in one hand and what appeared to be a moth-eaten swim cap in the other, I began to have second thoughts.

Her name was Jennifer Parks, and she explained that the holes in snug-fitting cloth cap were to help position the electrodes that would be monitoring my brain waves as I conducted the trial. As Jennifer fit me with the cap and used her extensive scientific knowledge to determine the best spots on my noggin for siphoning brain waves I chewed my lip, hoping that my shampoo was doing its best to keep me silky smooth and dandruff-free.

After she had marked the electrodes' landing zones with stickers, Jennifer pulled off the cap and reached for a tub of goo that she informed me was a conducting material. Slathering it onto my scalp, she assured me that the sticky globs would wash out of my hair. Eventually.

When Jennifer had finished her ministrations, I had four electrodes attached to my head and a pulseometer clipped to my ear. She then bade me to pick an envelope, the contents of which would determine if I was to be part of the control group, or the test group. The control group would be given a list of articles to find on the internet, while members of the test group would play one of three PopCap games: Peggle, Bejeweled 2, or Bookworm Adventures.

I ripped open the numbered envelope and was relieved to find that I would be gaming for science. Next, I had to choose the game that I would play. I went with Bookworm Adventures because of the three choices, it was the one I had played the least. I don't know if familiarity with a game would skew the results or not, but I wanted to try and be as fair as possible.

Jennifer performed some scientific hoodoo on the computer, and suddenly my brainwaves were sketching across the screen. I tried thinking various kinds of thoughts – happy ones, angry ones, crazy ones – to see if I could get the readings to move, but no such luck. Coughing, on the other hand, makes the readings spike like crazy. Weird.

Before I could begin the test, I had to fill out a Profile of Mood States (POMS) that used virtually every adjective you can think of to determine my mood. Was I angry? Expectant? Regretful? Guilty? Did I feel anxious? Foggy? Cautious? Hungry wasn't on the list, but I was keenly regretting turning down the bagel that Dr. Russoniello had offered me.

After completing the POMS, I had to sit quietly, without talking or moving, so that Jennifer could obtain a baseline for my readings. Then, finally, I got to play a game for science. Jennifer quietly left the small room to let me play Bookworm Adventures in peace for fifteen minutes. I forgot about the electrodes, the goop in my hair, the fact that the computer opposite me was recording the workings of my brain. I made it through two levels and was just at a boss fight when Jennifer returned to unhook me.

I filled out another POMS immediately after playing the game. As I answered the questions, I realized that I felt sharper, more alert, more capable than I had when I began. It was a subtle distinction, and not one that I likely would've noticed had I not had to fill out the questionnaire, but it was definitely there.

Dr. Russoniello came in to explain that the electrodes had been measuring my Heart Rate Variability (HRV), which measures sympathetic (fight or flight) and para-sympathetic (relaxation) nervous system activity. This is Dr. Russoniello's first study to determine the potential therapeutic value of playing videogames.

In my case, the results were quite dramatic. According to the data, my stress level dropped by 400%. My choice of Bookworm Adventures may have been the reason that my mental acuity achieved perfect balance; according to the study data, it had the greatest impact on right/left brain synchrony, an increase of 421%.

All three games increased mood, but in different ways. Bejeweled 2 and Peggle were the best choices for reducing anger (65% and 63%, respectively), and playing Peggle drastically reduced psychological tension as well (66%). All three games did a respectable job of reducing depression and confusion, but Peggle was the best for lowering levels of fatigue.

In some cases, the gender of the player made a difference on the results. Women playing Peggle experienced a 40% greater improvement in mood than men who played, while men playing Bejeweled 2 experienced a 10% greater mood improvement than women.

A player's age made a difference in some cases, too. Bejeweled 2 players under 25 experienced a significant increase in emotional balance when compared with players over age 25. A more detailed breakout of the findings can be found at ECU's web site.

The data from this study will hopefully serve as a launching point for future investigations. There are simply so many more variables that need to be addressed. Do violent games lower stress levels as significantly as casual games? What about a player's proficiency level? Does the length of time a game is played make a difference? There's clearly still much to be learned.

East Carolina University's Psychophysiology Lab is planning to start clinical trials in the fall to determine the efficacy of these games and their prescriptive parameters. Maybe they'll need my help for that one, too, and I'll get another crack at playing games for science.

Image courtesy PopCap Games