http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/video-game.

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Playing video games, including violent shooter games, may boost children's learning, health and social skills,
according to a review of research in American Psychologist.
The study comes out as debate continues among psychologists and other health professionals regarding the
effects of violent media on youth. An APA task force is conducting a comprehensive review of research on
violence in video games and interactive media and will release its findings later this year.
"Important research has already been conducted for decades on the negative effects of gaming, including
addiction, depression and aggression, and we are certainly not suggesting that this should be ignored," says
Isabela Granic, PhD, of Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands, lead author of the article. "However, to
understand the impact of video games on children's and adolescents' development, a more balanced perspective
is needed."
While one widely held view maintains that playing video games is intellectually lazy, such play actually may
strengthen a range of cognitive skills such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception, according to
several studies reviewed in the article. This is particularly true for shooter video games, which are often violent,
the authors found. A 2013 meta-analysis found that playing shooter video games improved a player's capacity to
think about objects in three dimensions just as well as academic courses designed to enhance these same skills,
according to the study.
"This has critical implications for education and career development, as previous research has established the
power of spatial skills for achievement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics," Granic says.
This enhanced thinking was not found when playing other types of video games, such as puzzles or role-playing
games.
Playing video games may also help children develop problem-solving skills, the authors said. The more
adolescents reported playing strategic video games, such as role-playing games, the more they improved in
problem solving and school grades the following year, according to a long-term study published in 2013.
Children's creativity was also enhanced by playing any kind of video game, including violent games, but not when
the children used other forms of technology, such as a computer or cell phone, other research revealed.
Simple games that are easy to access and can be played quickly, such as "Angry Birds," can improve players'
moods, promote relaxation and ward off anxiety, the study said. "If playing video games simply makes people
happier, this seems to be a fundamental emotional benefit to consider," said Granic. The authors also highlighted
the possibility that video games are effective tools for learning resilience in the face of failure. By learning to cope
with ongoing failures in games, the authors suggest that children build emotional resilience they can rely upon in
their everyday lives.
Another stereotype the research challenges is the socially isolated gamer. More than 70 percent of gamers play
with a friend, and millions of people worldwide participate in massive virtual worlds through video games such as
"Farmville" and "World of Warcraft," the article noted. Multiplayer games become virtual social communities,
where decisions need to be made quickly about whom to trust or reject and how to lead a group, the authors
said. People who play video games, even if they are violent, that encourage cooperation are more likely to be
helpful to others while gaming than those who play the same games competitively, a 2011 study found.



















Online Games: What Will You Gain From Them?
Contrary to what most people believe, Web-based pastimes are not all that
bad. Sure, they can be addicting. But they do have benefits as well, which
is more than what you can say for other forms of recreation. When playing
massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), for example,
you will be able to work on your people skills. That is because you would
need to interact with your team-mates to plan out strategies for your next
attack. In other words, you will learn how to cooperate for the benefit of the
group.
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Well, that is a characteristic that you will find very useful in life. Aside from
that, here are other advantages of online gaming:
Multitasking. Moving your fingers through several keys without
taking your eyes off the monitor is just one of the many abilities that
you will learn while playing. And, while you are leading your character
into the battle zone, you will need to watch out for your opponents
and look after your companions simultaneously. Well, that is what
you call doing more than one thing all at the same time! Surprisingly,
Web-based programmes for recreation will help you become very
efficient in manning your keyboard and mouse. Also, it will help
develop better eye-to-hand coordination.
Stimulating the brain. Because it is all about tactics and plans, then
you will know how to make your mind work quickly and easily;
otherwise, your opponents will defeat you at every opportunity. The
good thing about this is that it has long-term effects. Studies show
that elderly people whose brains are constantly challenged with
puzzle, trivia, and the like lowers the risk of having memory ailments.
Well, imagine how alert and healthy your mind will remain if you start
at an early age.
Improving technology-related knowledge. It has been known that
children who play online applications are more aware of how to use a
PC and make the most out of it. Considering that computer literacy
and Internet research are now part of the basic skill sets, it is
advantageous to give them an hour or two to have fun.
All in all, playing games on cyberspace is good for you. You can think of it
as a cure for an otherwise boring day. If you are worried that you do not
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Benefits of Online Educational Games to
Tweens and Teenagers
The mention of online games and kids in the same sentence can set off conflicting feelings in
parents, even parents of older children who have earned some freedom in the home and may
be drawn to online play. While there are many gaming sites all over the Internet today, many
of them still feature online educational games that your tweens and teenagers can enjoy.
Many of these game storyboards go beyond traditional math drills and fact sheets, and are in
fact so engaging that your children may not realize they are learning anything at all. This may
be a point of compromise, as many of these games boast a wealth of benefits for your child.
Here are some of the advantages of online learning games to consider.
1. Boosts memory and cognitive skills: Problem solving has long been known to
boost brain function, and this is an important component of most kids learning
games online. Many of these games target memory and responsiveness,
particularly puzzle and trivia games. Logic games challenge the mind and can
actually strengthen intellect, and others teach lessons of cause and effect, and
sometimes also enhance math and computation skills.
2. Raises confidence and instills a sense of accomplishment: Older children
who play online educational games and are able to beat levels and accomplish
small goals usually feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, a feeling
often missing in these turbulent developmental years. This also teaches that
setting small goals can help them master the overall game, a mindset that will
help them be more successful in future endeavors.
3. Increases social skills: Social interaction can be tough for some tweens and
teenagers, but playing educational games online can help with this. Many of
these games are multiplayer and interactive, allowing children to play with or
compete against other children around the world. In the course of this, online
relationships can be forged and your child can get better accustomed to meeting
new people in a less threatening environment. The veil of anonymity involved
here can allow your child to start to explore who he or she really is without the
social constructs and restraints surrounding traditional social situations. Of
course, as a parent, you need to be aware of your childs online activity to be
sure that relationships arent being forged with online predators or bullies. Just
be sure to teach your child basic Internet safety guidelines and keep the lines of
communication open.
Online educational games can provide great benefits for older children in a variety of ways.
As long as you are monitoring your childs Internet use and he or she knows basic safety
rules, then you can feel better allowing your child engage in this gaming experience online.


Apparently videogames don't rot your brain - they actually make you a better citizen.

Despite how much the gaming medium has matured over the years, there's still a rather unfortunate stigma
attached to the hobby. Countless parents see games as an egregious waste of time, if not an explicit danger to
impressionable children and teenagers. Kathy Sanford, an education professor at the University of Victoria, begs
to differ. Sanford led a research project that followed a group of teenagers over five years of life as gamers, and
she found that spending hours and hours in virtual worlds can actually help teens learn to better navigate the
challenges of reality.
Some of the points that Sanford cites are common sense to experienced gamers, but her results may help to
explain modern gaming to those with an outside perspective. Among the educational aspects of videogames are
constant moral choices (which led to higher civic engagement and understanding of critical decisions like
voting) and leadership opportunities in online games where the unique strengths of different players need to
mesh in order to succeed. Sanford also noted that schools should change their strategies if they want to engage
these generations of "digital learners." Today's gaming teens are very good at learning from immediate feedback
loops, so the education system's more drawn-out process of traditional grading may not be stimulating students
optimally.
Sanford says that it's important to try to understand this emerging way of thinking, even if parents and teachers
don't fully understand it. Videogames can help teens learn some skills, but now more than ever, that education
needs to be reinforced with context. "It's kind of scary for adults," Sanford says, "because we don't really know
what's going on ... So we have to talk to our kids about what they are doing in an interested in genuine way.
Some of the characters are problematic to me, there is a lot of sexism, but we need to talk to kids about them,
not just ban them."

Video Gaming Can Increase Brain Size and Connectivity




A new study has found that video gaming can stimulate neurogenesis (growth of new neurons) and
connectivity in the brain regions responsible for spatial orientation, memory formation and strategic
planning, as well as, fine motor skills. Brain volume was quantified using magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI). In comparison to a control group, the video gaming group showed increases of gray matter, which
houses the cell bodies of nerve cells in the brain.
Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity improvements were observed in the right hippocampus, right prefrontal
cortex and the cerebellum. These brain regions are involved in functions such as spatial navigation,
memory formation, strategic planning and fine motor skills of the hands. Increasingly, the level of
connectivity between brain areas is being linked to higher intelligence and consciousness.
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Interestingly, these changes were more pronounced the more passionate desire a participant reported to
playing the video game. Gaming brings together the cerebral function of the cerebrum with the cerebellar
muscle memory of the cerebellum which improves cognitive function and performance.
The October 2013 study, titled Playing Super Mario Induces Structural Brain Plasticity: Gray Matter
Changes Resulting from Training with a Commercial Video Game was conducted at the Max Planck
Institute for Human Development and Charit University Medicine in Berlin.
The researchers predict that the benefits of video gaming could be helpful in therapeutic interventions
targeting psychiatric disorders. Study leader, Simone Khn and her colleagues believe that video games
could be a useful tool for treating patients with mental health problems in which brain regions are altered or
reduced in size, such as: schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or neurodegenerative
diseases such as Alzheimer's dementia.
"While previous studies have shown differences in brain structure of video gamers, the present study can
demonstrate the direct causal link between video gaming and a volumetric brain increase. This proves that
specific brain regions can be trained by means of video games," says Khn.
"Many patients will accept video games more readily than other medical interventions," adds psychiatrist
Jrgen Gallinat, co-author of the study. Further studies to investigate the effects of video gaming in patients
with mental health issues are planned. A study on the effects of video gaming in the treatment of post-
traumatic stress disorder is currently in progress.
Video Gaming Benefits Multitasking Skills

Researchers at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have created a specialized video game that
may help older people boost mental skills like handling multiple tasks at once. Dr. Adam Gazzaley of UCSF
and colleagues published their findings in the September 2013 journal Nature.
In the preliminary UCSF study, healthy volunteers ages 60 to 85 improved their ability to multitask and to
stay focused on a boring activity while keeping relevant information in mind. The gaming improved the
short-term memory people use to remember things like a 7 digit phone number long enough to write it
down. These cognitive abilities typically decline with age leading to what some describe with the
colloquialism senior moment.
The video game, called NeuroRacer, involves doing two things simultaneously. A player uses a joystick to
guide a car along a hilly, twisting road, steering it and controlling its speed. At the same time, a series of
signsactually colored shapesappears on the screen. The player is supposed to push a button only
when a particular kind of sign appears. Players were scored on how quickly and accurately they reacted to
the right signs. The game progresses to harder levels as a player improves, to keep it challenging.
Gazzaley and other brain experts said bigger studies were needed to assess whether the game could
actually help people function in their everyday lives. He's co-founder of a company that is planning to
develop a product from the research.
Brain experts not related to the study point out that previous research has shown that older people can
improve on mental skills such as multitasking if they are trained. But the training in past multitasking studies
was "boring as all get-go," said Elizabeth Zelinski, a professor of gerontology and psychology at the
University of Southern California.
Presenting an appealing game like NeuroRacer instead could help people stick with it, she said. The key
to creating flow and superfluidity is always going to be increasing the level of challenge to match your level
of skill by finding the sweet spot between boredom and anxiety.
Conclusion: Age and Type of Video Game Make All the Difference
Gaming can remove people from the real world and cause parts of your brain to literally shrink and become
disconnected. Humans are not designed to live in a 2-dimensional cyber reality. Video gaming can never
replace the full benefits of practicing, playing and making social connections in the real world.
That said, specialized video games might one day be able to boost mental abilities of people from all walks
of life and ages. Specifically designed video games could benefit children with attention deficit disorder,
people with post-traumatic stress disorder or brain injury and older adults with depression or dementia,
according to Gazzaley.
In a previous Psychology Today blog titled, Mindfulness Training and the Compassionate Brain," I write
about research by Richard Davidson, who has challenged video game manufacturers to develop games
that emphasize kindness and compassion instead of violence and aggression.
With a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Davidson is working with Kurt Squire, an associate
professor in the School of Education and director of the Games Learning Society Initiative, to design and
rigorously test two educational games to help eighth graders develop beneficial social and emotional
skillsempathy, cooperation, mental focus, and self-regulation.
"By the time they reach the eighth grade, virtually every middle-class child in the Western world is playing
smartphone apps, video games, computer games," says Davidson. "Our hope is that we can use some of
that time for constructive purposes and take advantage of the natural inclination of children of that age to
want to spend time with this kind of technology."