New Study: Cravings Blocked With Tetris

here the link to the article. the study says that even 3 minutes of playing tetris can reduce cravings for food, sex & sleep by one fifth.
thoughts, anybody? do you have experiences with simple pattern interrupts like this? would it work with addicts? is there maybe even something better?

question to experienced users: i would be interested to see what ppl in the success section say, as they may have some success with something like this. could one just post this in two forums or is that unwise?

 

of course, you can get it for free from the app stores for telephones or play it for free online.
i just tried it. it feels a bit infantile with a potential for addiction. i remember these kind of solitary games from my childhood as profoundly empty and unsatisfactory. lonely, i would say, captures their spirit to me.

 

i just checked, and the best online one seems to be this one, according to an online tetris comparison.
i wonder if something like a vocabulary or facts learning program would do as well. it would be a little bit more goal orientated...
i'd be interested in your experience.

 

@Congrelous: in the article it says "Playing a visually interesting game like Tetris occupies the mental processes that support that imagery; it is hard to imagine something vividly and play Tetris at the same time.”
@giggleshmack: did that work and for how long? do you feel that there is something inherent in specifically 'tetris' do get that effect? would it be possible to use a vocabulary trainer instead to get the same effect (maybe if you checked just nouns to occupy visual centers)?

 

@Majestoso Será: tetris is a simple kind of computer game, in which you have to manipulate 'falling' shapes into patterns. it can be learned instantly by anybody. you can try it out online at this site...

 

@NoBrainer: you're welcome. what was the discussion, if i may ask? i'm still a bit unsure how to put this into a format that works. i think the paper indicated that you should play tetris when you experience a craving. i wonder, how this is different from other forms of distraction...

 

i've heard you, congrelous, also before. thanks!
i guess, i thought it was a contribution that the scientists of the study put the effect into the category of the visual perception, i.e. the parietal or occipital lobe (perhaps even the temporal lobe for spatial processing), also meaning not the prefrontal cortex.
not sure, if this makes a difference for the experience, but perhaps it might indicate that it's not really a matter of shift in judgment that tetris brings about (prefrontal cortex) but a kind of different preceptive mode, as in 'let's stop talking and clean up the house' and then you are in that different, very haptic world. -
but that's just a thought... i guess, worth testing, though...