Videogames are such a waste of time. Isn't that what we've always been told? You can't learn or improve anything by sitting on your couch and fiddling with a controller. Though we know that isn't true, since games like Madden can improve one's knowledge of football or a Gran Turismo can help improve one's driving performance, there aren't that many studies out there to back that fact up. Well, one study has recently come out, which shows that playing Super Monkey Ball can improve surgeons and limit their mistakes. Roll monkeys roll!

From the article:

Surgeons who warmed up by playing video games like "Super Monkey Ball" for 20 minutes immediately prior to performing surgical drills were faster and made fewer errors than those who did not, said Dr. James "Butch" Rosser, lead investigator on the study slated for release Wednesday.

The research involved 303 surgeons participating in a medical training course that included video games and was focused on laparoscopic surgical procedures -- which use a tiny video camera and long, slender instruments inserted through small incisions.

The study was conducted by Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City in conjunction with the National Institute on Media and the Family.

Doctors were measured on their performance of the "cobra rope" drill, a standard laparoscopic training exercise used to teach how to sew up an internal wound.

Researchers found that surgeons who played video games immediately before the drill completed it an average of 11 seconds faster than those who did not.

Any errors committed during the training lengthened the time it took to complete the task -- indicating that faster finishers made fewer mistakes.

Read the full article over at CNN.com