How to solve the poverty problem: Play video games?

When you're out of work, or you're so poor that you don't have enough money for basic necessities of life, one of the most devastating effects isn't so much physical discomfort, it's mental anguish. If you're not getting enough to eat, or don't have a place to sleep, you can still survive for weeks, even years, but the mental strain of poverty can eat away at the remaining shreds of dignity.

That's why identifying the particular traits that lead to or alleviate the debilitating mental problems stemming from poverty is so important. BPS Research Digest discusses a recent study led by Johnny Wen which found a fascinating result:

Seventy-three participants were recruited from an outpatient medical centre - most were of low socioeconomic status, 89 per cent were out of work, and many were suffering from psychological or medical problems (patients with dementia or a profoundly low IQ had been omitted). Participants completed a raft of neuropsychological tests and then answered questions about their attitudes to work and their beliefs in their work skills.

Of all the mental faculties tested, it was only the participants' performance on tests of visual skill that was consistently related to their overall belief in their work ability. That is, the better a participant's visual skills, the more confident they were likely to be in their ability to work. Visual skills were tested by asking participants to re-draw a complex figure, or to re-create a figure using blocks.

Now this study offers only a correlation, but it does raise the intriguing possibility that improving visual skills can improve confidence in the ability to do work, which may be the first step in helping impoverished people improve their life situations.

So let's take another giant leap: how do we improve visual skills? Play video games. It's almost too easy, isn't it? Unfortunately, video games do have a few problematic aspects, too. Maybe we should train the poor in the visual arts.

Of course, either of these solutions is taking a giant leap: perhaps poverty isn't caused by lack of self-confidence. Perhaps increasing work confidence still won't solve the underlying problem. But it would be intriguing to see if anyone tries it.

Below the fold: More cognitive news.

• Toshiba develops "lightweight" three-kilo virtual reality helmet
• The Neurocritic contrasts two recent studies with different results on elephant self-awareness
• Chris Chatham discusses a possible mechanism linking long-term and short-term memory

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