Describe The Effect Of Videos Games On Childs Mind (Essay Sample)

Effects of video games on child mind
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Video games have taken over the world of children. In the United States, current statistics show that 91% of the children aged between two years and seventeen years play video games (Gentile, pg. 47). It is because of this high percentage of children involved in video games that research has been initiated to establish both the negative and positive effects of video games. On the negative side, most research by psychologists has revealed gaming as leading to addiction, violence, and depression. The aggression and violence among the youths as a result of playing video games cannot be denied as there is evidence. In 2012 it was established that a school gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary school began with playing shooter games (Ferguson, pg 312). This prompted President Obama to allocate more resources to research on the effects of video games to establish whether it led to violence among the youth. Nevertheless, research on the positive effects of video games has focused on cognitive impacts, motivational effects, emotional and social effects and there is evidence that video games improve pro-social behavior as well improving cognitive capacities. This paper analyzes both positive and negative effects of video games and argues that video games, although have negative effects on the mind of the child, have more positive effects in the advancement of cognitive functioning.
Video games stimulate brain activity in multiple regions of the brain. According to a study done by doctor Daphne Baveleir who is a brain scientist at the University of Genever and University of Rochester (Bavelier, Daphne, et al. Pg. 34), video games go beyond entertaining the kids to enhancing behavior in varied realms such as attention, perception, task switching, crowding acuity, brain plasticity and mental rotation. These were summarized as visual-spatial benefits gained from video gaming. Expansion in visual-spatial functions led to an enhanced personal attention control which made to gamers to develop high signals to noise ratio, an aspect that facilitates quick decision making by an individual. These results were echoed by a study conducted by Polish, an Italian, and a group of Ditch researchers Colzato (2013, pg. 45), which established that First Person Shooter (FPS) games needs that the players expand a flexible mindset that can be able to manage and quickly respond to quick moving auditory and visual stimuli so as to limit erroneous activities. The researcher subjected the video game players and non-video game players to an N-back task so as to measure the level of monitoring of the memory and established that video game players were by far quicker in updating the working memory than demonstrates game players. The researchers concluded that playing video games especially FPS helped in enhancing flexibility in updating task-relevant data with no effect on the impulsivity. These visual-spatial skills are very applicable in the child's career development especially in undertaking tough courses such as mathematical, engineering, architecture, design and economics. This can be confirmed from Andrew Wright who is a professor at University of Washington practicing surgery. He plays video games so as to steady his nerves for more accuracy and sharpness during surgery. He notes that game players have high decision-making tendency as their ability to processing information are much developed than in non-video game players.
Visual-spatial skills acquired through the playing of action video games has been likened to a high school, or university training has it brings the effect of learning that could be acquired at those levels. Video games are believed to intrigue significant measures of proficiency and neural processing. For instance, the current study shows that mechanisms controlling behavior are less active in video game players than in non-video game players during a more challenging task that involved pattern-detection. This was confirmed through measuring of the functional magnetic resonance imaging. Playing video games enabled the individuals to adjust their attention resources and use them more efficiently. Video games have the ability to change the brain which consequently changes behavior in the manner people handle tasks. According to Prensky (2012, pg. 76), video games, especially the FPS, have led to "digital nives" among the children who play them. This is because these games have open ended solutions which train the children to acquire skills for decision making. The children who play video games do not have to go through linear instruction but can learn through trial and error as well as use the manuals to collect data that can be tested through the game and thus enhancing more practical mental development than a theory based learning. Video games that allow the children to role play are more effective in the development of problem-solving skills attributed to the speed at which a gamer is expected to make decisions and change strategy during the game so as to defeat the partner. The more the problem-solving skills gathered by a child, the more, the higher academic performance in school.
Video games actually change how the brain works. According to a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin C. Shawn Green, Bavelier, Daphne, et al. (2012, pg. 67), video games have the capacity to alter the brain's physical structure in a similar as learning expands the mind so as to learn or acquire psychomotor skills such as playing the piano. Video gaming is an exercise in which the powerful brain muscles are strengthened which aids in concentration and rewarding surges of neurotransmitters, for example, dopamine which enhances neural circuits responsible for brain development. Expansion in the brain leads to high brain capacity that can be reflected in quick decision making, accuracy, and high analysis, perseverant and inductive brain.
Playing video games also enhances creativity among individuals. New evidence gathered from recent research indicates that playing any video game either action, violent or nonviolent games have an ability to increase creative capacities among the children. According to a study Jackson et al. (2012, pg. 90), high creativity is directly associated with video game playing. In his study, he chose a sample of 500 children aged twelve years. He established that about 80% of the children who played video games exhibited high levels of creativity as compared to 60% of non-video game players. However, it was unclear whether the video games were the primary source of creativity or the children playing video games were born creative.
Nevertheless, a combination of the visual-spatial skills, problem-solving skills, and high creativity was put together to see how the video games could be applied to solving a real life problem. Biologists at the University of Washington came up with an online game in 2008 called Foldit which enabled the public members to model genetic protein make up through playing a game. After a three-week competition, it was established that top players had identified a phase estimates that could be used to trace a monkey virus associated with AIDS. Identifying this DNA had challenged the researchers for a long period extending beyond ten years but thanks to problem-solving created by video games.
Video games also have the effect of multi-tasking which stimulates multitasking in different fields. According to Chiappi (2013, pg. 56), children can develop multi-tasking habit from video games. He conducted an experiment through Multi- Attribute Task Battery. It involved using a joystick to maintain target over the screen, controlling fuel, reacting to lights on the panel instrument as well as listening and reacting to the radio communication. Video game players could easily manage these tasks as compared to non-video game players.
On the contrary side, video games among the children have been shown by some researchers to pose negative effects on the children s brains. According to Huesmann, (2010, pg. 65), violent video games, when exposed to children, are likely to cause aggressive cognition, aggressive behavior as well as decreased pro-social behavior and empathy. This was echoed by Barbara J. Wilson of University of Illinois (2008, pg. 89) who argued that there is a link between aggressive behavior with the kind of content that the children watch on the screens as well as the violent games they played. She compared children who were exposed to comedies and those who spent time playing violent games and established that the ones watching comedies had a better pro-social behavior than their counterparts.
Also, long hours of playing video games can be a risk to the brain and may lead to illness such as dementia and depression. Studies show that video games may alter the way in which the children utilize their brains as a result of overworking due to extended play. According to a study by the University of Montreal, it was established that children ...