Essay Effects Of Video Games On The Brain

Video games can have positive, therapeutic effects on players of all ages, especially those with mental or emotional problems. Games provide a chance to tune out the stresses of everyday life and decompress. Giving your mind time to rest is critical for emotional and mental well-being. Relaxation reduces the risk of heart problems and stroke, boosts memory, buffers against depression, and helps decision making. It even has physical health benefits, by suppressing

Researchers found that 85% of gamers rely on their caudate nucleus more than their hippocampus increasing the amount of grey matter in their caudate nucleus and reducing it in their hippocampus. The people who played 3D Super Mario games for 90 hours resulted in increased grey matter in the hippocampus (Gajanan). Video games have positive impacts like attention, and visual and motor skills. They can also have negative impacts like risk of addiction (Nichols).

Understanding and action go together. We think more fluidly when an action is associated with a concept. Video games contain, joined together, both action and thought. This leads to a much better internalization and understanding of the game's subject matter. In a study done in Germany in 2008, participants were given a simple task to learn, such as Juggling. After about 12 weeks, these people showed a marked increase in the amount of grey matter in their brains. Further examination of these results revealed that it was, in fact, the act of learning coupled with the action that caused this increase, not simply the performance of the action itself. This suggests that games not only are excellent ways of teaching, they can have lasting beneficial effects on the health of the brain itself.

To begin, video games can be used a way to escape the reality when times are hard for someone. In the article, “Playing video games is good for your brain” by Mark Griffiths, a Washington Post journalist, states an example on how video games can be used as a way to forget about what’s going on in the real world. For example, when Mark says, “Because video games can be so engaging, they can also be used therapeutically.” (Mark). In other words, video games can be used as a way to get your mind off of things during bad times. Another example is when Mark says, ”In another experiment, they trained gamers who had little previous experience of playing action games, giving them 50 hours practice. It was shown that these gamers performed much better on perceptual tasks than they had prior to their training.” (Mark). To clarify, multiple experiments were used to

Video games can train the human brain so it become strong and faster at thinking. Since video games have fast action paced content, they become a virtually gym for your brain. Also, because of the action in a game there are a lot of eye hand coordination and quick problem solving skills involved in playing a game. The article “Are video games bad for me?” says“... can improve eye-hand coordination, problem solving skills, and the mind’s ability to process information.” This quote shows the many quick skills one person can improve by playing video games such as eye hand coordination, problem solving skills and the mind’s ability to process information. The quick skills that are need to play video games can be practiced and learned by play video games. Considering this, the number of things video games can teach children are

Gaming may be used for more than just simple entertainment. As studies have shown that playing video games and in this experiment Mario 64 have shown to help people with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s dementia. What neurodegenerative diseases does is makes you lose the function of neurons which utilmy cause a loss to memory and decision thinking. And one of the big neurodegenerative diseases is Alzheimer’s dementia and symptoms include loss of memory behavioral problems and loss of self-care and eventually death. The point of the treatment is people who play video games have shown an increase gray matter in the right hippocampal formation. And the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and bilater cerebellum. So since playing video

The obvious mental problem is aggressive behavior, but others include social phobias, anxiety, and even depression. Physical effects caused by video games include fatigue, migraines due to intense concentration or eye strain, carpal tunnel syndrome caused by the overuse of a controller or computer mouse, and poor personal hygiene. Now one thing, the bad effects are mostly caused by spending too much time on video games. So that means, if you or your child spends less time on video games, there are good effects. Video games increase coordination, improve problem-solving skills, sometimes enhances memory, and improves attention and concentration. It is a great source of learning, as it improves the brain's speed, enhances multitasking skills, and improves social skills. Patricia Greenfield, a psychology professor at UCLA, has studied the relationship between video games and intelligence and finds a positive correlation. Her research attributes an increase in worldwide "nonverbal IQ" (spatial skills, the use of icons for problem-solving and the ability to understand things from multiple viewpoints) to the spread of video games. I was thrilled to hear my prejudice confirmed--until Greenfield noted that this rise in IQ comes at the expense of potentially more important social skills. Which is to say that kids typically don't interact that well when they spend hours sitting in front of the computer or console. "It's

North America has spiraled into an unhealthy obsession with video games. The value of the video game industry in 2015 was over seventy-one billion dollars in the United States alone, and its worth has only increased. Polls show that 63% of American households have persons who play video games for a minimum of three hours a day. But do exposure to those games affect the brain in a negative way? Video games are shown to be more influential to the brain than television and movies, and research shows that video games shrink essential parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus. This diminution influences cognitive functions, whose effects will carry on into later life.

Video games can indeed cause some form of effect on a person's behavior. It's not really a question of how, but who can be influenced by it. Mostly children and the mentally ill are susceptible to such things. Children are young and may not realize what they are doing which can result in them doing something that can be harmful without realizing the danger in the action. As far as the mentally ill, if the illness causes some serious mental instability and anything could affect the behavior of the person a lot then caution is recommended to be used when around video games. If someone was to be influenced by some form of video games, it may cause a child to try to re-enact a part from the game and as a result, cause some serious harm. This can include many things like: Assault, shootings, cursing, and even death. While such actions are a possibility, they are unlikely considering youth violence is actually declining.

If a person sits for hours playing video games day in and day out, it will affect not only your brain but different aspect in your life. The act of playing video games is not harmful. When you exercise excessive

Video games have been argued about for decades. Some people have argued that video games are linked to violence. However, new research shows that video games can be used for therapeutic purposes, exercise, stress relievers, positive interactive learning, hand eye coordination, and different types of patient treatment for people all around the world.

Here is the good side.Some scientists have study about how video games affect the kid's brain or teens brains and found that they are good for you.They found that first person games help them with strategies and reacting skills and problem solving skills.They help kids grades with math and science in school but does affect their english.Some people use this technology for simulators with training with pilots to test and help them fly a plane or practice

In today’s society, the concerns for the effects of video games have acquired quite a terrible reputation. Worried parents around the world assume video games make their children do poorly in school, and create violent, desensitized, antisocial children. The increase in violent games, usually get the blame for aggressive behavior, shootings and violence in schools and young individuals. Most beliefs about video games effect on the brain and emotions are very common misconceptions. I strongly believe that video games are an essential tool to learning and gaining much-needed skills. When people look at the studies that have been done on video games and the brain, it will be apparent that some myths about video games have been blown out of proportion. It has come to my attention that there are studies that prove the negative effects of video games may only last the duration of game play. Kids can improve in general knowledge with educational video games like Leap Frog. Video games can train specific areas of the brain as well as increase brain flexibility and memory. Gaming actually has more beneficial effects than negative effects. Video games are excellent educational implement used in elementary schools. It is extremely helpful in brain development and helping kids with trouble reading improve. Memory retention can be improved and increased with the use of strategic, thinking games. Video games, as funny as it might sound, even promote

Now, we are able to see that playing video games can be beneficial for people of all ages. However, as Chimamanda Adichie emphasized in her TED Talk, it is important to consider and examine all of the other perspectives. So, yes, it can be established that games can be beneficial, but we must understand that the type of game being played is a big part of it. Generalizing all games into one category would be a mistake. There are many different types/genres of games: puzzles, shooters, role-playing, multiplayer online, sports, educational, etc. Each genre come with its own benefits. As previously established, educational games can be very helpful in a school environment, but other types of games such as shooters probably won't work too well. In fact, an American Psychological Association, APA, review was able to confirm the common idea that there is a link between violent video games and aggression (“APA Review”). Violent video games might not be the main driving force behind aggression, but they seem to be a factor in it. Patankar, having played competitive shooters and fighting games, didn't take this into account with his evaluation of gaming. On the flip side of the coin, though, a scientific review found that playing video games, including violent shooters, may be able to improve a child's learning, social skills, and cognitive skills. The APA writes, “A 2013 meta-analysis found that playing shooter video games improved a player's capacity to think about objects in three

Playing video games is among one of the favorite pastimes of many people around the world. Some play games to kill time with simple tasks found most commonly on the phone, while others play them to challenge their mind in the form of complex puzzles or to practice management skills, some play them to experience a sense of adventure that they just can’t find anywhere else, and many use them as a way to communicate or have fun with friends both near and far. Whatever the reason someone may have for playing video games, they may not think that games can have an effect on their brains. Some would say that playing video games can lead to negative effects such as harming the player’s cognitive skills or causing them to become much more violent than normal. Others would argue that playing video games quickens the minds of their players, leading to higher mental performance or an increased attention to detail. Thanks to this hotly debated controversy many studies have been conducted over the past years in order to settle the debate once and for all. So what effect can playing video games have on the cognitive skills of their players, and are these effects positive, negative, or somewhere in the middle?