Start with puzzle games make you think. Eye and hand coordination are a must!

They improve cognitive abilities and spacial awareness as well as reaction times, (FPS are really quite good for this, especially in high competition like COD). With new play mechanics and increasingly more complex AI I imagine there is also a case for developing emotional intelligence (in the right game/ setting of course) from simple concepts like 'Hero or Villain' (cause and effect) to more adventurous/ complex scenarios in games such as Mass effect. To top it all off lots of games have the ability (or perhaps the potential) of developing real life skills, it's not difficult to see how games like Guitar Hero could progress into learning real life skills in a more inspirational way - imagine getting a one on one lesson from Ozzy Osbourne!

P.S I almost forgot, As an art teacher I have actually used Minecraft in my lessons when teaching children about Architecture, the simple design and ability to use 'easy to control' 3D programming has allowed them to give more spatial consideration when drawing up their final designs. It also helps hold their short attention spans too!

I don't know how much evidence there is to support this, but I was just thinking today that if I had played more JRPGs, which involve a lot of basic math, maybe I wouldn't have sucked at math so much.

I did something similar to this back in high school for my school paper XD

Some ideas would be reading, for example Animal crossing allows kids to read at a 5th grade level I believe it was...also you have puzzle games which help with your thinking skills. Brain age helps you with a variety of brain techniques. Other games that are fast paced help with cordination skills also such as eye and hand, you even can use DDR that helps with feet cordination. Not sure if you could use this but military based games are also used by the military to help soldiers they just have the games modified for the service. Also decision making games that are set for a younger audience it helps kids learn the different types of reactions choices have on others.

There are a lot of benefits to playing video games. Research on google and bing. Good luck. =)

You should look at games like Brain Age. They are supposably designed after some Psychologists IQ tests or whatever. I think? 

To start, you could cite games like Brain Age.  Or if you wanted to be more specific in your paper, you could talk about how games can be beneficial for children.  Such as reading skills, problem solving, etc.

I remember seeing a long time ago in college I read an article pertaining to the fact that Gamers were better at driving than non-gamers because Gamers actually develop a higher sense of reaction time.

You can also focus on games such as Brain Age and Dr. Layton which are actually pretty good at stimulating the different portions and sections of the brain.

IF you're a fan of Breaking Bad, you'll understand the caption..

If not, just check out the headline:

I don't much about the making you smarter end of things, but they have been using games with stroke victims, especially Wii games with motion control, as therapy to help them regain cognitive and physical functions. My grandmother asked me about gaming for the first time five or six years ago when she read an article in AARP magazine about how casual games keep the mind sharp in senior citizens. I don't have any references to cite, though. Sorry.

Video games taught me how to look at things from different angles, both literally and figuratively. Playing games like Tomb Raider and Soul Reaver made me think about solving problems and how to tackle things from a different way, eliminating the wrong ideas as I worked things out. Games like Suikoden 2 (a game where your main enemy starts off as your childhood friend) and GTA: San Andreas (a game that lets you experience a little bit of what it was like to be a young African American in '90s Los Angeles) allowed me to see different sides of life. Now, whenever I'm presented with a problem or in the middle of an argument between two people I take time to explore things from every possible angle.

I think there was an article a couple of years ago where doctors would play hand eye games before going into surgery and it would improve their coordination. Also there are a couple of stories where video game helped people rehabilitate their bodies.

Thanks guys, all of these were really helpful. I recently became a contributer for whatculture.com so I'll post the finished product in article form on there after it get's reviewed and everything.

you should update us on when your article goes live so we can support you on your new site. congrats on the new job. 

Another one would be that gamers can make decisions faster due to games. Also, surgeons who play games are actually better in performing surgeries. I read an article on that, don't remember, if I find it I'll PM it to you. Also, these articles from Cracked are pretty good at giving you some references to what you're asking: this one, this one, this one, not sure about this one, but the Outrun part seems good, and maybe this other one. Hope you find them usefull.

Whoa thanks so much. I'm sure they'll be really helpful.

Well if you think about it, turn based RPGs and Strategy RPG make you think about everything you do. It's all about planning what your next move is. To me that's vital in real life. If I do this, he'll do that. Thinking about the reaction to your actions is paramount  in winning the battle.

Many RPGs challenge you with puzzles that must be overcome using logic as do puzzle games such as the Professor Layton series.

I'm not sure they qualify as making you smarter but they surely aren't geared towards idiots.