Looks like the colored blocks of Tetris can actually block flashbacks of traumatic events, even after the memory has established itself in the mind.
Can a simple computer game such as Tetris help trauma victims through painful memories and flashbacks? That's exactly what researchers in the U.K. are trying to find.
If the findings of one small study are anything to go by, a simple game of Tetris could prevent traumatic taking hold in brain and also reoccurring as flashbacks.
Researchers based at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and Sweden's Karolinska Institutet examined subjects who had seen video footage of real traumatic events such as deadly accidents, and then had some of them play Tetris in order help them clear their mind of traumatic images, ABC News noted.
The plan was to minimize "intrusive" memories with the trauma, researchers said. These memories can include paralyzing flashbacks that cannot be controlled, the researchers noted.
Those who played Tetris 24 hours after seeing a film that contained disturbing video footage of real car accident and a drowning, reported fewer "intrusive" memories in the days after their first viewing.
According to the researchers' theory, playing the game re-configures the visual memory, as the brain focuses on both the visual game and memory of the film.
In the study published this month in the journal Psychological Science, researchers said, "from Marcel Proust's example of sudden childhood recall after eating a madeleine to flashbacks depicted in war films, involuntary memory has long held fascination."
"The current work bridges a clinical area of public concern (trauma viewing) with animal and human neuroscience," researchers added.
The study also goes into the details of some of the trauma that the participants had experienced. Marcel Proust, one of the participants had sudden childhood memories coming back and even suffered from flashbacks when watching the film.
The author of the study did admit that the study was limited since the traumatic images were only seen on television, and this is much different as compared to actually experiencing a trauma in real life. However, the same types of brain mechanisms and chemicals are responsible for the way an individual relates to the trauma, Gazette Review noted.
According to Jaine Darwin, a Massachusetts-based psychologist who specializes in trauma and crisis intervention, the study is interesting but she remains suspicious that it could be applied to people who had survived actual trauma.
"If you watch a horror movie, you can get scared for days," Darwin told ABC News. "[But] you lack the smell or tactile association," of the event.
She notes that in situation where people view trauma such an accident or someone drowning on screen, psychologists simply suggest turning off the television or computer in order to get away from trauma and protect oneself from intrusive memories.
Darwin said it's "good solid research and an interesting hypothesis," however it needs much more research and proof before it becomes applicable to patients. As of now, mental health professional work with a patient to help them separate themselves from the event so they can view and "digest" the trauma from a safe space, she explained.
"Memory in general is malleable and it changes over time," Darwin said. "In long-term psychotherapy, [patients] construct a new narrative."
