There have been many studies done
recently to find differences in brain activity between action video game players
and non-videogame players. A recent study, by psychology professor Ian Spence
at the University of Toronto, tested and proved that playing action video games
causes differences in both brain activity and improvements in visual attention.
This was the first time research linked these differences directly to playing
video games. This experiment used 25 people (who were not regular “gamers”) who
played ten hours of video games in one to two hour sessions. Sixteen of them
played a first-person shooter game and 9 people played a 3-D puzzle game (the
control group). The people used in the experiment had their brain waves
recorded both before and after playing the video games. Those who played the
shooter video game showed significant changes in their brain waves and a greater
improvement on visual attention than those who played the 3-D puzzle game. "After playing
the shooter game, the changes in electrical activity were consistent with brain
processes that enhance visual attention and suppress distracting
information," said Sijing Wu, a PhD student in Spence's lab and lead
author of the study. Spence said that different studies, on this topic, have
shown that action video games can
improve selective visual attention but no one has previously proven that
different brain activity is a direct result of playing an action video game.
This article is very
relatable to many people’s lives. I know many children, including my brother,
were nagged by their parents to stop playing video games because it was “going
to hurt their brains,” or some other lame excuse to try to get their children
to stop playing. But now, after all this research and experiments have been done,
playing action video games may actually help children that play them, helping
them expand their visual attention.
I thought
this was a very interesting article to read and I thought the outcome of the
experiment was also fascinating. Before reading this article, I also believed
that playing video games was bad for you, so it was very cool to find out almost
the opposite and that playing video games is almost good for you.
Posted for J. Carroll
I think Jamie did a good job summarizing the article, and I found it very interesting to read. One thing I liked about her summary was her clear description of the experiment. She explained how many people would take part in the experiment, what each person would be doing, and which group of people was the control. Another thing I like about her article was the clarity of the language and good grammar use. There were no portions of this summary that made me stumble, which was nice and allowed for a nice flow for the reader. Finally, I appreciated her relating this article back to our own lives. I played a lot of vide games (mainly first person shooters) when I was younger, and was incessantly nagged by my parents to stop playing them, which made reading this article that much sweeter.
ReplyDeleteThough this article was well written there were a couple things she could have done to create a better one. Firstly, I wish she had defined "gamer" for us. While I believed that gamers were anyone that played video games, she seems to have a different idea concerning the people partaking in the experiment. Secondly, I wish I had been able to come out of her summary beter understanding what the findings of the experiment were. While it seems to be implies that video games do, in fact, help your brain and make you more attentive, the first paragraph almost contradicts itself in the final sentence.
In the end, I found this article and summary very interesting. I was impressed with the research findings and amazed that every time my parents yelled at me for playing video games, I could have just pointed to research and asked them to look at scientific studies!
Jamie did a great job of reviewing ‘Action Video Games Change Brains.’ I thought that it was great that she included her on opinion of the article, which I found very interesting. I thought that Jamie did an excellent job of describing the article very clearly. It was also great that she included a quote from Sijing Wu, a PhD student in Spence’s lab.
ReplyDeleteI think that this article could be improved if she had included more information about the gamers from the article. I also think that Jamie could have included more quotes from the article to enhance her review.
I found this article very interesting but surprising because I did not know that plating video games could have a positive outcome such has improvements in visual attention.
I commented on Jamie’s review of the article, “Action Video Games Change Brains.” Overall, I found Jamie’s review to be presented very well. One aspect of her review that I found to be particularly well presented was how she began her review. I know that there are many people in our school who are very interested in video games and are avid players of them so, stating that it could have an effect on brain activity would definitely interest them. Jamie also summarized her finding in the article quite well, as I understood the point of the experiment, what went on in the experiment, and the outcome (although I wasn’t quite sure what they discovered). Lastly, I liked how Jamie related the article to our lives today. There are definitely many people who play videogames, including myself, and it is interesting that it may have some positive effect, contradicting what our parents have told us all these years.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Jamie’s review was good, there were some aspects that could have been improved. One suggestion I can make is that the outcome of the experiment was not clearly presented whatsoever. All that was stated was that videogames can improve selective visual attention, but there was no concrete proof and the results of the experiment were not referred to. Also, I feel that there could have been more quotes and or explanations on the experiment because that was the main factor I was disappointed with in this article. I also found that it is somewhat obvious that playing action video games improves your attention, as you will clearly be more focused and attentive when you are required to actually do something rather than just watching T.V.
Before reading this article, I was not aware that playing action video games could improve selective visual attention, although the evidence supporting that is not very strong.
I commented on Jamie Carroll's review of the article, "Action Video Games Change Brains", and really enjoyed reading it. I think that Jamie did a good job presenting this article to our class. I liked how Jamie included quotes from Sijing Wu, a PhD student, that was involved in Spence's lab. I also liked that Jamie related the article to ordinary people's lives. She connected it to her family and that made the review much more relatable. Finally i liked that she clearly described the experiment. She made sure that people could understand what was going on, and who was doing what in the experiment.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think that Jamie did a stellar job on the review, there were parts that could have been refined. I think that Jamie could have included more information about the "gamer". I really didn't know the definition of a "gamer". I also would have liked if Jamie explained what the outcome of the experiment was. She didn't give us a clear outcome and how the experiment ended.
Before i read Jamie's review, i had no idea that playing action games could improve visual attention. my parents are always hounding me from stepping away from the television and putting down the controllers, but this article really gives me a new point of view about video games.
I think Jamie Caroll did a great job summarizing the article, “Action Video Games Change Brains.” One thing I think she presented particularly well is the set up of the background of the experiment and the scientists that were involved. She didn’t go overboard with information but provided just enough that the reader needed for the summary. Another thing I think she did well was relating this experiment to people all around the world, including myself. Being a major action video game player myself, I felt really connected to the article. A final thing I think Jamie did well is with the incorporation of quotes from the original article. This provided a bit a recall to the article and the quotes really helped support the experiments results.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it was mostly great, there were a few things Jamie could have improved on to make it better. One thing she could have added was maybe the addition of what exactly this means for the players of action video games. This includes what this really does to their brains and what it can help people do. Another thing I think Jamie could have improved upon is that despite the fact she did a flawless job incorporating quotes from the original article into the review, she could have added more in order to support her review and make it just that much better.
I was very surprised by this article and I certainly learned a lot. It makes me happy to learn that playing video games can actually help your brain activity and does not really have the negative effects that parents and others tend to stress about playing to much video games. All in all, intriguing article and great review.
I think my classmate Jamie did a very good job of reviewing the article “Action Video Games Change Brains.” Jamie did a good job of explaining what the experiment was and how the scientists carried it out. I think she also did a very good job of relating the article to our lives because many teenagers play these videogames and I did not know that it actually increases brain activity. I think Jamie did a good job of summarizing the article in a short paragraph because the article was pretty long.
ReplyDeleteI think Jamie could have made her review better if she interpreted the results a little more because I don’t know what the results mean and how it affects us. She could have also included why action games require more brain activity than puzzles.
From this article I learned that playing videogames isn’t necessarily bad for your brain and it can even increase activity.