While it can be hard as parents to look beyond the day-to-day struggles with gaming kids, it’s helpful to hear about the potential upsides. (1994). Educ. Playing an action video game reduces gender differences in spatial cognition. Improves Cognitive Function: Playing video games enhances multiple cognitive skills such as visual processing, memory, reasoning, perception, and attention. The videogames used were “Tetrix2000” for the 2D version of the game and “3DBlocks” for the three-dimensional version. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. Khatri et al. Even though I personally never had problems with these adverse side effects of video games I knew it was out there and I believe it’s essential to address the concerns. Sci. The most common concern is that video games will have the opposite social effect and force kids to feel more isolated and separated when they play. These lead to ascribe a negligible effect of the 3D training and to categorize 2D training as ineffective. Enhancing cognition with video games: a multiple game training study. Entertainment Software Association [Esa] (2016). Psychol. The relation of computer and videogame usage to gender differences in mental rotation ability. Meta-analysis of action video game impact on perceptual, attentional, and cognitive skills. Participants’ scores in 2D condition were 4.40 points higher than scores of participants in control condition. Terlecki et al. 23, 462–466. (2011), however, showed that the higher proficiency in laparoscopic ability by those surgeon trainees that were gamers, compared to non-gamers trainees, was due more to psychomotor skills than to visuo-spatial competencies. Many modern games serve as interactive forms of education to children. Mean age was not different across gender (t = 1.32; n.s.). The study comes out as debate continues among psychologists and other health professionals regarding the effects … Table 1. Despite the negative stereotypes surrounding gaming, video games can be used to help children develop social skills. (2008) verified how also habits in videogame use (and not only specific training) are strongly correlated with better visuospatial competencies. Learning, attentional control, and action video games. 142, 181–186. J. Educ. Social Skills As technology advances, more video games that connect you to other users all over the world are being introduced on the market. doi: 10.1007/s11199-005-6765-0, Terlecki, M. S., Newcombe, N. S., and Little, M. (2008). Psychol. These results as a whole could have some implications for educational software development. The good, the bad and the ugly: a meta-analytic review of positive and negative effects of violent video games. The experimental conditions were balanced for gender (χ2 = 0.04; df = 2; n.s.) Computer games: environments for developing spatial cognition. By looking at estimates, it appears that 2D condition ameliorates control group mean score by 1.55 points while 3D condition edges control group scores by 1.63 points. As regards this specific subscale, it appears that the training with the videogame was not effective from T1 to T2. (2007) showed that surgeon trainees that never played videogames were the least performant in a laparoscopic training course, while surgeons that played 0–3 h a week were more able than the former, while surgeons that played more than 3 h a week were the most proficient with the laparoscope (scoring 42% better than the non-player group). Table 3. Curr. Social isolation can be an immediate consequence of continuous and ceaseless gaming. Granic et al. To sum up, the literature seem to have established a fairly robust correlation between practice with videogames and enhancement of visuospatial skills. 16, 888–904. doi: 10.1111/add.12457, Rosselli, M., and Ardila, A. In this light, early studies about visuospatial competencies and VG use have shown how training with ad hoc videogames leads to an improvement in performance on pencil and paper visuospatial tests (Gagnon, 1985; McClurg and Chaillè, 1987; Okagaki and Frensch, 1994; Subrahmanyam and Greenfield, 1994), and possibly lessens gender differences (Halpern, 2000; Ferguson et al., 2008). Estimates show that 2D condition scores are higher than scores of control group by 0.27 points, while 3D condition edges control group scores by 0.81 points. Addiction 109, 1399–1406. Positive Effects of Gaming on Student Performance. Video games improve basic visual processes. Action video games make dyslexic children read better. Principals of the schools approved the schools’ participation in the research project, agreed to the collection of data and informed the parents about the research. The research from Norway shows that boys play video games far more than girls do, something found in numerous studies. Eichenbaum, A., Bavelier, D., and Green, C. S. (2014). One of the most intriguing research topics about positive effects of VG use is about the domain of visuospatial competencies. It measures speed in perceiving and comparing visual stimuli, thus covering Halpern’s spatial perception. J. Educ. The main limitation of this research, which is exploratory in its nature, is the limited control over the training sessions due to the home setting. Biol. Video games may help them to learn how to communicate with and fit in with other children easier. Finally, in terms of “real-world” applications of the potential benefits of training with VGs, one of the most intriguing lines of research deals with the effect of gaming expertise and/or training on trainees in surgery. Impaired Social Interactions. Regarding videogame play, gender differences emerged: while males on average played videogames for 7.97 h a week, females played videogames for only 3.51 h (t = 7.99; p < 0.001). Bartels, C., Wegrzyn, M., Wiedl, A., Ackermann, V., and Ehrenreich, H. (2010). We attribute this result mainly to the intrinsically higher complexity of the spatial visualization subskill (it requires multiple mental manipulations of spatial information), which probably means that a longer training time would be needed to detect any improvement. Moreover, since age was inserted as a covariate in all the models tested, we can be confident that any effect of VG practice detected in our study can be thought of as occurring independently of age. (2013). AESVI – ISPO (2010). As with everything, there are two sides to the argument of the effect video games have on student performance. Rev. They help teach kids about real world skills that they can use later in life. Unfortunately, people who are known to play a lot of video games often receive a negative stigma. • Reconstruction of images (CS-1): the task consists of guessing the identity of an object shown incompletely. People, especially children, tend to spend lesser time with their friends and others because they want to get back home/gaming place as fast as possible and continue playing. Participants’ scores in 2D condition were 0.38 points higher than scores of participants in control condition. (2008) specifically used the computer game Tetris to train undergraduate students in spatial cognition and found that the improvement lasted for months and generalized to other spatial tasks. Playing video games can teach children with autism or an autism spectrum disorder how to respond to visual and verbal queues, in turn improving their social responses. Then multilevel modeling was run by means of Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) nesting Time measurements (Level 1) within participants (Level 2). The participants were asked to play the videogame at home for 45 min per day on the three following days. J. Confidence intervals range from −0.14 to 0.91 and from −0.26 to 0.78, respectively. Feng et al. However, not all games are equally effective in this domain, as the action/shooter genre seems to convey the most beneficial effects due to their very dense and complex visual representation, while more visually sparse videogames (as adventures) seem to be less effective. Most units now can connect online and chat to other people who are playing the games. This indicates a very likely effect of learning occurring between T1 and T2, implying the need for a prudent approach about the effects of training with videogames on visuospatial competencies. (2018). Front. Kennedy, A. M., Boyle, E. M., Traynor, O., Walsh, T., and Hill, A. D. (2011). Commun. WASHINGTON — Playing video games, including violent shooter games, may boost children’s learning, health and social skills, according to a review of research on the positive effects of video game play to be published by the American Psychological Association. It measures the capacity to preserve a visual configuration mentally and thus covers Halpern’s spatial perception. Gaming is an activity that can also help gamers enhance leadership skills, hand-to-eye coordination, eyesight, boost self-esteem and many other benefits. I don’t want you to think that my answer is in any way a cop-out dealing with this topic. Tetris was selected for different reasons: first of all, it provides a challenging environment, mixing features from puzzle and action VGs; secondly it does not convey any violence nor aggressive content, and – finally – the Tetris learning curve is easy while maintaining a good challenge due to the constant increase in the speed of falling of the bricks. The envelope included a description of the research and its aims and a consent form to be signed by both parents prior to the administration of the instruments. 68, 414–420. doi: 10.1016/0193-3973(94)90005-1, Petry, N. M., Rehbein, F., Gentile, D. A., Lemmens, J. S., Rumpf, H. J., Mößle, T., et al. Things you Should Know When Creating a Video Game, Werewolves in Video Games – Beware of a Full Moon, Xbox on Social Media can Make you a Better Gamer, Parts Needed to Build the Best Gaming Computer. A further limitation regards the pen-and-paper nature of the visuospatial tests used. Video gamers can learn to communicate with others in a less … Kit of Factor Referenced Cognitive Tests. doi: 10.1037/a0028446, Wai, J., Lubinski, D., and Benbow, C. P. (2009). We performed firstly a set of descriptive analyses. However, spatial visualization was not affected by the training. Kennedy et al. Mean scores on the six visuospatial tests are presented in Table 1. LM conceptualized the study, collected the data, performed statistical analyses, and wrote the first draft. We attribute these results to the fact that Tetris seem to match specifically both spatial perception – in terms of perceiving and assessing spatial relations between the shapes and their relative position according to the boundaries of the “well” – and mental rotation – in terms of quickly assessing the (either 2D or 3D) rotation needed to fit the pieces together. The next time your child or teenager asks to download a new game, you might consider how it might support competence, autonomy, and/or relatedness. This make… Six subscales of the “Kit of Factor Referenced Cognitive Tests” (Ekstrom et al., 1976) were employed as visuospatial tests. Uplift mood and strengthen social skills: Simple-to-play and easy-to-access games like Angry Birds may uplift mood, promote relaxation, and develop positive emotions, like joy. However, these preliminary results need to be replicated in more controlled experimental environments and with bigger samples, and to generalized to more ample age groups before they can be established as robust. Table 2. The positive effects of video games are numerous, from better memory and problem-solving to improved mood and social skills. (2013). • Rotation of cubes (S-2): the task consists of deciding whether the pairs of cubes presented as stimuli are the same cube rotated or different cubes. J. Appl. Results of the Generalized Linear Mixed Models are presented in Table 2, while Table 3 presents confidence intervals. It measures the capacity to perceive a gestalt from partial data (this covers Halpern’s spatial visualization). At the end of the experiment, all participants were granted free access to both versions of Tetris. doi: 10.1007/s11199-007-9332-z, Franceschini, S., Gori, S., Ruffino, M., Viola, S., Molteni, M., and Facoetti, A. Social Effects of Video Game Play: Social Skills . (2007). An ethics approval was not required at the time the study was conducted as per the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore’s guidelines and national regulations. Psychological Bulletin, 144 (1), 77-110. Written informed consent was obtained from the parents of all participants, and our study is compliant with Helsinki Declaration principles as regards research with humans, even in the absence of a formal Ethic Committee evaluation. If you are against video games and seldom allow your children to play, then you might want to know about some benefits of playing useful games. 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