Argumentative Analysis

Additionally, eye-sight can be improved even when playing video games. There are some misconceptions that spending long periods of time playing video games on the computer or on the television worsens vision but that is not true. Games today have the “graphic capabilities allow[ing] the game player to alter the visual perspective from narrow to panoramic” ("Electronic Game”). Due to the games ability to change viewpoints, the player can be creative and view objects in different perspectives. As University of

Bowen, Lisa. Video game play may provide learning, health, social benefits, review finds. American Psychological Association. February 2014. Vol 45, No. 2. Print version: page 10.

Video games and violence have been a big issue that has been the start of many arguments in today’s society. There have been many studies that have tried to support either side and no one can seem to come to a conclusion. The documentary that I watched, “Are Video Games Really That Bad” by BBC Horizon, was a document showing the benefits of video games and how they do not cause violence in people. Video games can be helpful to many people and can improve concentration, improve awareness, and can stop the brain from deteriorating as fast. These are just a few points that they make in the documentary. These stakeholders are trying to show their viewers that video games do not hinder gamers but instead they help them by increasing brain activity,

Bavelier and Green have suggested the effects of video games have not been readily determined. (Bavelier, & Green, P.763, 2011). Han and Renshaw, have determined through

To reinforce the findings of Emma Stanmore, Sabrina Schenk decides to conduct her own form of research on the effects of video games on cognition. According to Schenk, studies show that playing video games is connected to definite cognitive benefits such as probabilistic classification. Probabilistic classification primarily “requires a coordinated interaction” between two types of long term memory: “declarative and nondeclarative memory;” otherwise referred to as explicit and implicit memory (Schenk 2017). Declarative memory is commonly known to be the storage of factual information, while nondeclarative memory refers to the unconscious memory of certain skills. Additionally, declarative memory is primarily controlled by the hippocampus while “nondeclarative memory is mediated by the basal ganglia” (Schenk 2017) The coordinated utilization of both memory components allows for better prediction of unknown outcomes. The unanswered question remains: is the memory of a gamer truly greater than that of a non-gamer?

Gamers can visualize their goal and plan different ways to approach it. Greg Tito (2010) also mentions by the same studies made by the Department of Defense that gamers have a greater increase in long-term memory than non-gamers. Furthermore, they are more focused while in the field. Greg Appelbaum (2013) an assistant professor of psychiatry in Duke School of Medicine said that the perspective of a gamer is different than how a non-gamer visualize things. These different studies proved that gamers experience through games have helped them through adapting in reality. To illustrate, a gamer as soon as he puts a goal to achieve, he instantly figures out different ways to approach that goal without even knowing due to by doing it for so long through games. After figuring out his alternatives he will start visualizing and set short term goals to achieve his goal. In the other hand, a non-gamer may do the same steps but the process of doing so might take longer because he has to right it down to visualize it. Also, gamers are creative when inventing or producing something new to help the society and make life

Vision in gamers improved in contrast sensitivity. This means that players are more sensitive to slight differences in shades of color. Action gamers were able to observing fine differences in color contrasts by 58%. “When people play action games, they're changing the brain's pathway responsible for visual processing," Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester, said in a statement. Action gamers have the ability to track multiple fast-moving targets compared to non-action gamers. Researchers also say that video games could become a part of vision correction treatments. Currently optometrists have to rely on corrective lenses or surgery. "Once you've had eye surgery or get corrective lenses, exposing yourself to these games should help the optical system to recover faster and better," Bavelier said. The training gamers get might be assisting the visual system to make better use of the data it

Firstly, studies have shown that grey matter in the brain increased when playing video games. It has been estimated that the average person will spend about 10,000 hours playing video games until age twenty-one; there is evidence that shows that only 10–20 hours of engagement in video games can improve performance on our attention span, and also improve tasks that require executive control. (Kühn, Gleich and Lorenz) In cross-sectional study done on males, they found an increase in grey matter in the entorhinal cortex, and the occipital cortex. They predicted that grey matter volume in the entorhinal cortex would be higher in players that were more interested in certain video games. Forty-eight participants were recruited by means of newspaper and internet

In recent debates about online schooling, I have found that the state department of education is currently experimenting with an online schooling system. Although I agree that this could be beneficial to some students who are located in more rural areas of the country, I don't believe it is the absolute best way to solve this educational issue. Over the past few years, people in the educational field have been figuring out ways to incorporate technology into school, but with online schooling I fear we would have to find a way to incorporate personal interaction into technology.

As the division of neighborhoods became more clear, children of each race did not get to see the other race on a daily basis because they are physically separated. The lack of interaction between the two races created a mental gap. Without the opportunity to see the other race, children were only able to know the other race through memories passed down through their neighborhoods. The cycle of negative images of the other race passed down through generations set up a mindset in each race that they can never understand the other race. Similar to how Guitar, who live among other black people, characterizes white people as the “unnatural enemy”, children can easily understand other people inaccurately through limited knowledge and experience.

Video games can be used as instructional tools as well. They have positive elements and add value; they create a micro world of their own. The players act based on natural tendencies towards learning. Therefore, learning occurs while playing (Rosas et al., 2003).

The article I examined for this critique was “The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control,” a study carried out by the University of Illinois 's Department of Psychology. Researchers Arthur F. Kramer, Daniel J. Simons, Monica Fabiani, and Gabriele Gratton wanted to test if benefits received from playing video games were limited to just visual and attentional tasks. They sought to do this by replicating previous experiments and examining the differences between gaming experts and non gamers, and then taking it a step further by applying a wider range of tasks that tested the subjects cognitive abilities.

Bauerlein also mentions how millennials have mastered multi-tasking, including part of an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education explaining that “raised amid a barrage of information, they are able to juggle a conversation on Instant Messenger, a Web-surfing session, and an iTunes playlist while reading Twelfth Night for homework” (86). It is then added that “whether or not they are absorbing the fine points of the play is a matter of debate” (86). From my own personal experience, I have noticed how in daily life the youth seems to be able to multi-task, but older generations seem to do one thing at a time. Technology seems to enable multi-tasking more. I know I multi-task a lot, some view it as a bad thing because you are never

Standard cognitive science is the way we go about studying thought or mental organization from means such as psychology or computers. Embodied cognition is similar, but instead takes into consideration how the environment plays a role in the development of cognitive progression. Tim Crane and Lawrence Shapiro, through their text, both highlight the importance of each type of cognitive approach. Where Crane presents cognitive science to revolve around computational processes inside the brain, Shapiro presents examples for embodied cognition to either be supplemental or incorrect in comparison to the standard cognitive approach. Shapiro does so by laying out three important hypotheses: conceptualization, replacement, and constitution. The conceptualization

Contrary to the popular belief that video games are the cause of many teenagers having to wear glasses is another study from the University of Rochester, that shows that people who played action-based video games particularly first-person-shooter games were 58% better at perceiving fine differences in contrast, the researchers said.