The Negative Effects Of Playing Video Games And Cognitive Skills

Video games are a enormous part in the world today. “More than 150 million people in the United States play video games regularly or for at least three hours per week. The number of sales has increased and in 2016, 24.5 billion games were sold, up from 23.2 billion in 2015.” “This Type of Video Game May Actually Harm Your Brain.” written by Mahita Gajanan is my positive article and “How Video Games Affect the Brain.” written by Hannah Nichols is my negative article. In this essay I am going to talk about video games and their impact on the brain (Nichols).

Playing video games will affect your decisions in one way or another. Will your perceptions change due to the type of game you are playing? There are two answers to this question, yes and no. Researching the effect of video games on the brain provides detail results that show my thoughts.

In the past years, critics have concluded stating that because of video games being released, homicide rates have dropped seventy-seven percent amongst juveniles and less than seven in ten million students have a chance of being killed at school (Sternheimer 214). In “Do Video Games Kill?” the author states, “the 2005 review found evidence that playing video games improves spatial skills and reaction times, but not that the games increase aggression” (Sternheimer 217). Many different video games have positive effects such as problem-solving skills, following directions, multitasking, quick thinking, and more. Video games increase problem-solving skills by placing obstacles in the game for the player to overcome. Virtual gaming can also teach the players how to follow directions to progress throughout the game. Players learn to multitask by taking on different objectives at the same time. According to the studies conducted by Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester found that players become more attuned to their surroundings due to the effects of gaming (Hughes “Benefits of Playing Video Games”). By the player becoming attuned to their surroundings, it allows the player to safely release their competitive urges. The American Psychological Association stated that an estimated of 70 percent of gamers play with friends worldwide (APA). While playing with others a player can enhance their communication skills by giving the players common ground to talk about how to complete certain objectives throughout the game. With video games helping with an individual’s cognitive state it can also help individuals who are recovering from physical harm such as a stroke. A stroke is when the brain loses blood flow,

Everybody in this country plays video games almost every day. It does not matter what the age is, even though they are not young and have free time they would play video games and enjoy themselves. People and society says that through video games children’s and also some adults become more aggressive and violent. Video games are contributing the act of violence all over the world and they are thinking to stop video games for their benefit. The media makes false assumptions. They are not giving details of video games and missing the benefits of the video games. According to medical daily new research indicates that certain video games actually boost the brain power and improve strategic thinking. Unfortunately, our parents and society does not approve the use of video games and it has been decried by many parents and it creates destructive garbage. It also improves the cognitive flexibility which is the mental faculty of creative and lateral thinking. According to Ericson, “Our paper shows that cognitive flexibility, a cornerstone of human intelligence, is not a static trait can be trained and improved using fun learning tools alike gaming”.(Medical Daily) This is the necessary part of our human brain and it can be achieved by video games and other fun learning activities. There are many advantages just like these from playing video games. They should also look at the benefits and not just focus on the disadvantages. It also helps from

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.

There are also many studies that show how video games increase peripheral perception, processing speed, and memory (Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw,  Merzenich, & Gentile, 2011). Also, depending on the type of video game a particular person is playing, it can be used as an effective training scenario(Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw,  Merzenich, & Gentile, 2011). The idea here is that video games can be used as a productive tool for people of all ages, professions, and lifestyles, if they are utilized correctly (Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw,  Merzenich, & Gentile, 2011). An issue that may come up is trying to find the happy area in the middle of the people who don’t use games at all and the ones that are using them excessively and becoming

Have you ever wondered why people enjoy playing video games? Players often find video games to be fun and exciting. But there’s a downside. Many adults assume that video games are harmful to the player, but that’s not necessarily true. Most people don’t understand that playing video games also comes with many benefits. We need to change how the world targets video games as always being “harmful”. Although, many people think video games are harmful, video games have positive effects on people in terms of perceptual tasks, having great educational potential, and improving problem-solving skills.

The Impact of Video Games on the Brain is complicated. The Viewpoint article outlines theories from authors presenting both positive and negative impact findings. These findings leave the door open to further study and assessment. However, the impact of videos on the brain affects individuals differently.

Today, many tend to believe that videogames have major negative effects on the brain and a person’s well being. People and scientists believe that videogames can be addictive after a while, they can make children antisocial, and they negatively influence young children and teens. Although many like to believe that videogames are more harmful than helpful, there are actually more positives than negatives. With video games, kids learn quick thinking, multitasking, problem solving, logic, and much more. In fact, some schools have adopted the idea of offering game design in the library as a way to help enhance children and teens thinking. These are just a few of the many traits that kids will need later on in life.

Video games; are they therapeutic or malicious to the brain? Studies focus on different genre of gaming and the effects different games have on different societies in the article, “Brains on Video Games” (Bavelier, alt, 2011). Six experts break it down by offering the reader benefits, negative effects, addiction, educational use and what challenges lay ahead (Bavelier, alt, 2011).

Over the past several years, video games have been getting an abundance of criticism for being too violent and having no educational value. In essence, video games are perceived as being specifically an enjoyable past time and nothing more. Some even may go so far to say that video games are bad for our health. However, these are usually the people that know little to nothing about the actual benefits gaming can have, especially on the brain. Besides being an extremely fun and engaging experience, recent studies have shown that video games can actually have a very positive impact on cognitive function and neural plasticity. While there are plenty of people that would disagree with this statement, evidence proves otherwise. It is unquestionable

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

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.

Thinking about gamers who spend countless hours playing video games, most people usually wonder why these individuals choose not to do something more productive rather than burning their brain cells playing mindless video games. What most individuals don’t understand is that playing video games do not only affect behavior, but trains the brain to think and comprehend things better that an average person. Video games train the brain to see things that most people cannot see and are proven to make decisions faster without much complication.

“Video games are a waste of time for people with nothing else to do. Real brains don't do that” -Ray Bradbury. People who are opposed to video games believe they are mindless. However, recent studies prove that playing video games can have many positive benefits for the brain. In a recent study lead by Simone Kuhn and conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Charité University Medicine St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus, has found evidence that video games can expand grey matter. Grey matter is part of the brain in charge of the transportation of information from sensory and motor skills. Sensory skills are those such as vision, memory, hearing, touch, smell, taste, vestibular (for balance and head position in space), and proprioception (information from the muscles and joints). Motor skills relate to muscles and movement and include crawling, walking, running, handwriting, and speaking. Another argument many people have with video games is that it can negatively affect the eyes by causing straining and nearsightedness. But Daphne Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive science at University of Rochester discovered that practiced gamers become 58 percent better at distinguishing the fine differences in shades of grey. And finally, the last argument that people have against video game, is that it does not have any physical benefits. However, a study at Deakin University in Australia, health researchers found that preschoolers who play interactive video