Video Games: Unlocking your Thinking Potential
Rotting your brain? Think again.

Video games have a long history of being misunderstood. Some have thought highly of video games in different aspects but others, it seems, do not. A great many people think that video games are trash and should be collectively banned. You might have heard an authority say, “Stop playing those video games; they are going to rot your mind.” That phrase, however, may not be as true as people think.

While playing video games, you do not just sit and stare into blank space. Your mind is at work. Video games exercise your brain by doing different tasks to complete the game or to advance. In certain games, you may have to count objects or try to decipher codes. Most games offer those types of “brain work.”

Video games have been shown to improve reaction time and the ability to count at a faster rate. There was a study one where gamers and non-gamers had to count the number of objects on a screen. Gamers counted the objects correctly more frequently than non-gamers.

Video games help you not only in a math prospect, but also in everyday problem-solving. When you play a video game, it requires strategy. A player has to plan out, step by step, what to do to complete a task. This gives them skills to solve problems. Researchers Shawn Green and Daphne Bavelier pitted keen players of computer games against non-players in a series of psychological tests that measure basic visual skills. The test demanded that subjects match shapes in a series of circles with corresponding shapes at the side of the screen. Players were vastly better at this task, and completed it much faster, especially when the test was made more difficult by the circles being filled with distracting shapes as reported in an article on BBC News’ website. Video games can also help kids with ADD focus.

“Although video game playing may seem to be rather mindless, it is capable of radically altering visual attentional processing,” said by Bavelier and Green. Video games reputations have come a long way. The future for video games is looking brighter, and smarter.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2943280.stm

I personally like playing video games. It allows me to do things I would never even think or really want to do in real life.

I mean take racing for instant. I would never in real life drive in race then race and turn around and go the opposite way just to smash into the other racers.

But in video games I am able to do that.

I think that people who blame things on video games are only trying to put blame on something other then blaming the one who is truly responsible.

I love Pikmin!!!! They rock!

i like them especially Super Mario 3, i agree with the proof you have come up with.

RPG's say it all
i love reading fantasy novels in digital video game format

Agreed. xD

sweet lol
yah Stories in video game format is definently tha future!

With the way games in general are becoming more and more immersive, the possibility for more expansive aspects are also evolving. Say for example in simulations/training, it's alot better to spend $3 mil on a simulator than $150 Mil on half a dozen planes, cars, tanks, or whatever.....especially considering gas prices now!