People who play fast-paced, shooter video games show faster, better decision-making compared with those who play slow-moving strategy games, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Rochester in New York tested two groups of young peopled aged 18 to 25 who didn't normally play video games, the Independent newspaper in the U.K. reports. The first group spent 50 hours playing military shooting games like Call of Duty 2, while the other group spent the same amount of time playing the strategy game The Sims 2.

Both groups were then given a series of tests to gauge whether they could make faster decisions. The gamers who played shooters made decisions 25 per cent faster than their counterparts, while answering the same number of questions correctly.

"It's not the case that the action game players are trigger-happy and less accurate -- they are just as accurate and also faster," said study co-author and cognitive scientist Daphne Bavelier. "Action game players make more correct decisions per unit time. If you are a surgeon or you are in the middle of a battlefield, that can make all the difference."

The study suggests that action-packed video games, which push the brain into making a series of split-second decisions, may improve a person's ability to make faster decisions in reality as well.

What kind of video game do you prefer to play? Do you believe video games can help improve decision-making? Let us know. (This poll is not scientific. It is based on readers' responses.)

Check out CBCNews.ca's series Pushing Buttons: How video games are changing our world