Many people that speculate that video games make you loose brain cells, that playing violent video games is a big risk for later physically aggressive behavior, along with the risk of attention problems (such as ADD or ADHD).
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| This is NOT your brain on video games |
In recent research studies they have shown that individuals who are expert gamers usually outperform novices in basic measures such as attention and perception.
In other studies, research had shown that people who played violent or action packed video games had faster reaction times than individuals who don’t play video games. Most action games also known as “shooter game” take the gamer through mazes all the while not knowing when or where the villain will show. Scientists found that gamers who play a lot of action packed games are better at making quick and accurate decisions.
Researcher Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Rochester in New York states that “Our brains constantly perform probabilistic inferences; for instance as you drive along and detect some unexpected moving object on the right side of the road, say a motorcycle, your brain will compute how likely it is that you are on a collision path with that motorcycle, and then infer from this probability whether you need to steer left or not. This kind of inference is used each time we make a decision. Action video games give an edge by improving this inference process.”
(Taken from http://www.livescience.com/health/video-games-improve-decision-making-100913.html)
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| According to BBC News: These are the parts of your brain that you use when you play video games |
A major point that a lot of consumers forget about is that video game companies are also making and selling things to try to promote and gain the attention from other forms of gamers. These types of games are known as card or puzzle games. In short they try to help your memory function. Users are able to play these games such as Jeopardy, Word Master, Picross 3D, Brain Age, and much more on all types of gaming systems, such as Xbox, Wii, Nintendo DS, PS3, PSP, etc.
(Taken from YouTube: X360 Kinect HD video game trailer, shows game that is made for all ages)
Older generations are even picking up video games because they want to help them memory function, and fight Alzheimer’s along with other memory loss diseases. When the Wii first came out Nintendo was recommending it for people of all ages from 3 to 100. Several Wii’s were placed in nursing homes and assisted living spaces in order to get them up and moving to keep them functional and not bedridden.
The first thing I noticed was the attention grabber, right at the beginning. You state the facts and show that video games are undoubtedly part of millions of lives across the world, young and old alike. Also, in your conclusion, you mention how video games are being integrated in helping senior citizens as well and breaking the generalization of the "gamer" so it wrapped up the article nicely. The graphics and YouTube video correlated well with the text that it accompanied. I enjoyed how you put a little tidbit in about how some video games are designed to help memory function so the reader knew that you were reaching for a broad topic of sharpening our minds through the games.
ReplyDeleteA couple things that you might want to note are the spelling errors (video games "took" in...) and (make you "lose" your brain cells) and instead of typing out where you took information from, simply hyperlink it to the article so the reader doesn't have to copy/paste. Also, I think that pulling the quote from Bavelier into a block quote format would help drive the point of the paragraph home for the reader.
Let me begin by saying I really enjoyed reading both of your posts. The first thing I noticed when I looked at your post was they eye catching picture you used in the first part. I think you did a nice job of doing this throughout the post. We are required to use only one picture but you used two, which is nice to go out of the box. You're second picture that you used is very interesting I just wish I understood it more. I also like the video you use because it reinforces the point that companies are trying to create and market these games to the public.
ReplyDeleteFor future posts I would suggest diving deeper into this subject of the effect video games could have on our bodies and minds. For me it is always interesting to see what kinds of things people can come up with to study when it comes to video games.
I like the point made about ADHD and then refutting that video games hinder but actually help the brain. Though the points used in say faster reflexes would correlate with people with ADHD who jump from one thing to another, but on the point of memory could help refute that. I liked the link, I wouldn't have seen it in the form as a commercial. The pictures also go well with your point.
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