Recalling the memory makes it more malleable in the brain, which is why therapy can work.В Holmes likened the process to warming up plasticВ and remolding the material. 'They were clips from public safety videos, for example, so they were designed to stay with you,' Holmes told New Scientist.ДЄ day later, the study participants came back into the lab and looked at still images from the clip to make the memory fresh. First,В the team showed video clips of distressing events to 56 people. A night's worth of sleep gives the brain a chance consolidate memories,В or store themВ more permanently in the mind. So, Holmes and her colleagues decided to see if the effect could also take hold if the game was playedВ a day later. Of course, playing a game within a few hours after experiencing a traumatic event - a rape, for example - isnвЂ™t really possible. But in 2009, a research group led by Emily Holmes at the medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unite in Cambridge, UK, found that playing TetrisВ within four hours of experiencing a traumatic event led to fewer flashbacks according to Jamie Condliffe at Gizmodo.

The standard of care for post-traumatic stress disorder is typically revisiting memories in order to overcome them, but in the future, drugs could help sufferers forget. About 20 per cent of people who have been in a serious car accident are affected by the condition. For example, about half of people who have been raped go on to develop PTSD, as do a number of asylum seekers and people who have been tortured. These intrusive flashbacks are distressing for anyone, but in a proportion of cases they can persist and contribute to PTSD. If an event is particularly traumatic, vivid memories of it can reoccur. Griggs explains the problem the game might help alleviate: If the findings of one small study pan out, a simple game of Tetris could prevent traumatic from taking hold in brain and reoccurring as flashbacks, reports Jessica Griggs for New Scientist. Slotting the colored blocks of Tetris into their places is both satisfying and addicting. Kichigai Mentat via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Tetris original