SHABIHA NUR KHATOON, OP
While psychologists often aver that playing video games induces violence and lethargy, new research shows that certain games boost cognitive ability and arouses intellectual curiosity and vigour
Playing video games is often considered a waste of time. Not only that. Sociologists and psychologists are of the view that many games induce violence and being meaningless, impart no value to the players. It is quite a common sight in everyone’s house to see kids spending long hours before the computer screen. Parents are heard complaining that playing video games makes kids anti-social, aggressive and dull.
So parents, the next time you worry that your child is wasting too much time playing video games, take note from new research that suggests video gaming may have real benefits for a child’s developing brain.
Researchers of Ruhr-Universität, Bochum, Germany have found that participating with kids while playing video games can help boost memory in the young as well as in the elderly.
“Our study shows that gamers are better in analysing a situation quickly, to generate new knowledge, and to categorise facts – especially in situations with high uncertainties,” said lead author of the study Sabrina Schenk of Ruhr-Universität.
During the test of gamers and non-gamers, the gamers performed significantly better and showed increased activity in the brain areas relevant to learning.
This kind of learning is linked to an increased activity in the hippocampus – a brain region that plays a key role in learning and memory.
“We think that playing video games trains certain brain regions like the hippocampus. That is not only important for young people, but also for older people; this is because changes in the hippocampus can lead to a decrease in memory performance. Maybe, we can treat that with video games in the future,” Schenk added.
Both teams did the so-called weather prediction task, a well-established test to investigate the learning of probabilities. The researchers simultaneously recorded the brain activity of the participants via magnetic resonance imaging.
The participants were shown a combination of three cue cards with different symbols. They should estimate whether the card combination predicted sun or rain and got a feedback if their choice was right or wrong.
They gradually learned, on the basis of the feedback, which card combination stands for which weather prediction.
The combinations were thereby linked to higher or lower probabilities for sun and rain.
After completing the task, the study participants filled out a questionnaire to sample their acquired knowledge about the cue card combinations.
Also, the gamers were notably better in combining the cue cards with the weather predictions than the control group.
With the rise of video games in modern culture, researchers and psychologists have taken a close look at the impact gaming can have on people in a multitude of situations. Numerous experiments have been done in recent years, many of which draw conclusions that gaming can increase brain function, problem solving skills, spatial reasoning, memory, attention span, strategic planning, and even social skills among others.
But “video game” is a broad term — with so many different types of games, researchers have focused their studies to see how different genres affect players.
Sunit Mishra, SAP associate project manager, Iteanz technologies says: “Kids love playing video games and it is one of the most fun and engaging activities. A few studies suggest that video game playing could raise cognitive learning for students, improve problem-solving and memory. Other studies found improvement in hand-eye coordination, pattern discrimination, reaction time, and spatial visualisation abilities.”
Dwelling in detail he explains that while playing games, the players’ brains are stressed and adapt to the kind of challenges they face. Learning new techniques and accepting challenges actually change the functioning of their brain.
Not all video games are played in the same way; therefore different video games present different cognitive challenges and emphasise different thinking skills. The differences in the way the game is played categorises video games into genres. The more popular video game genres are first person shooters, strategy games, simulation games, and puzzle games.
Strategy games require the brain to plan, strategise and manage limited resources and logistics. When playing a strategy game, the player has to be flexible and should be quick to change tactics when something unexpected suddenly happens, just like in the real world. Playing a strategy game also involves making fast analysis and quick decisions, sometimes with incomplete information.
Complex, strategy-based games can improve other cognitive skills, including working memory and reasoning.
Strategy games hold three most important points. They improve logical thought flow, analytical thinking and advances problem solving skills.
Then the SAP associate project manager talks about action-adventure games and sports games. It combines fast-paced action that engages the reflexes, as well problem-solving that involves thinking, in both violent and non-violent situations. Popular action adventure games range from hybrid first-person action-adventure that involves shooting, to sandbox open-world adventures that involve non-linear game-play in an open world. Depending on the game, action adventure games engage players in experimentation, problem solving, strategic thinking, teamwork, and even creativity.
Sport games are similar to action games in the sense that they are fast-paced and take good hand-eye coordination to win. For some, they are preferable to many action games because they do not involve violence. Though players won’t learn the physical skills necessary to excel in actual sports by playing sports video games, they can learn player moves and team strategies that are used to win games. Thus, quick thinking and making fast analysis and decisions are involved, often in situations that are constantly changing.
Biswatma Nayak, senior software developer at Globussoft, Bangalore says that video games can have positive effects on academics. In New York, there are a few schools that have brought specialised games into the classroom in order to teach students varying lessons while keeping them engaged.
He also talks about a few games that have the qualities of both fun and educative, for example, Doctor Kids, by playing this game kids can have fun and learn new things about doctors and nurse. This game is highly educational and helpful for those who want to become a doctor in future.
Video gamers show improved skills in vision, attention and certain aspects of cognition. And these skills are not just gaming skills, but real-world skills. Video games may have good effects on the brain but its addiction can also have negative effects.
Here are a few games that aim to improve cognitive skills, including memory power and reasoning.
- Starcraft
“Starcraft,” is a science fiction real time strategy game where different alien species fight for dominance. Each species has different fighting units available and requires different tactics to win. The game involves resource management to build and sustain units.
This game increases a player’s “brain flexibility,” the ability to allocate the brain’s resources under changing circumstances, which the scientists described as “a cornerstone of human intelligence.”
- XCom Enemy Unknown
XCOM enemy unknown, a science fiction turn-based strategy game, allows players to control the fate of the human race by creating and managing a fully operational base, researching alien technologies, planning combat missions and controlling soldier movement in battles.
- Call of Duty
The game puts the player in powerful battlegrounds of the future, where new tactics with advanced weapons are used to win in a high-tech era of combat.
According to a University of Rochester study, shooting bad guys in video games can unexpectedly give players better vision. In a 2009 study, expert action gamers who played first-person shooting games like “Call of Duty” saw a boost in their “contrast sensitivity function,” or the ability to discern subtle changes in the brightness of an image.
- Titanfall
Titanfall is a multiplayer first-person shooter where players control “pilots” and their mech-style Titans, and fight in six-on-six matches set in war-torn outer space colonies. It features fast-paced future warfare, and enables players to have the tactical ability of X-ray vision, invisibility cloaking and regenerating speed boosts. Players employ tactics that they can change quickly on the fly.
- Super Mario 64 (action adventure games)
In this platform game, the player controls Mario who explores Princess Peach’s castle to rescue her. It places an emphasis on exploration within vast worlds that require the player to complete many diverse missions in addition to the linear obstacle found in traditional platform games.
- Minecraft
Minecraft is a very popular open-world sandbox game set in a landscape with blocks representing trees, dirt, rocks, water, and a lot more that are randomly generated. Players perform various activities in the game, from building things, exploration, to combat. There are no specific goals but there are different modes: survival, adventure, and creative.
- Age of Empires (strategy game)
Age of Empires is an award-winning, best-selling real-time strategy game. The games in the series focus on historical events throughout time. Age of Empires covers the events between the Stone Age and the Classical period, in Europe and Asia. Its expansion, The Rise of Rome, follows the formation and rise of the Roman Empire. Age of Empires may spark a child’s interest in world history, geography, ancient cultures and international relations, especially if parents are alert to opportunities.
- Cut the Rope (puzzle game)
This game is very much popular in mobile devices, uses game physics as the main element to solve puzzles. The player help On Nom collect candies by cutting rope and manipulating objects and obstacles such as floating bubbles and bellows, using the touchscreen. Each level introduces new challenges.
- 2048
This mobile game uses logic and math skills to win. The player swipe numbered tiles around the board. When two tiles with the same number touch, they merge into one. The object is to swipe numbered tiles around the board until a player creates a tile with the number 2048.
- NBA (sports games)
Playing with NBA 2K15 is like having a true-to-life NBA experience. The graphics are life-like and the gameplay ultra-realistic. Players have control of such moves as rebounding, steals and blocks making the player feel engaged in every basketball decision and action.
- FIFA
The game is designed to give players the experience of playing soccer that is close to life-like. It even models the emotions of all 22 players, giving fans the chance to experience the personalities of the world’s best soccer players during a match. The player control is responsive making Man-to-Man battles more engaging.
