Study Questions Benefits of Video Gaming
Authors Emphasize Need for More Research
Do video games make people smarter? It's an ongoing debate and one that has made news of late. Advancing the idea that playing games increases cognitive ability has been forwarded by a number of studies in the past decade, but an even more recent examination of the topic has raised questions about previous research.
If you asked a video game player if they felt regular game-time made them smarter, many would reply that they believe it helps improve hand-eye coordination as well as problem-solving capabilities. At the very least, one must admit that -- by comparison to TV-watching -- playing video games gives one's brain a little workout, something it's not going to get from the finale of America's Got Talent.
But is this idea that games improve reflexes and problem solving simply a way for gamers to justify spending hours on their butts in front of a TV or computer screen?
In a recent study called "Do Action Video Games Improve Perception and Cognition?" published in the academic journal Frontiers in Psychology, psychologists Walter R. Boot, Daniel P. Blakely and Daniel J. Simmons question the validity of earlier findings that emphasized the benefits of video game playing. In this new analysis, Boot, Blakely and Simmons say that the connection between games and cognition development remains quite vague.
"The conclusion that game training produces unusually broad transfer is weakened by methodological shortcomings common to most (if not all) of the published studies documenting gaming effects," the authors write. "The flaws we discuss are not obscure or esoteric—they are well known pitfalls in the design of clinical trials and experiments on expertise. Most of these shortcomings are surmountable, but no published gaming study has successfully avoided them all."
So, how have previous studies of this kind stumbled? Most notably, by seeking out self-declared gamers and informing study participants that they're involved in an examination of video games. Boot et al suggest that this causes gamers to perform better in cognitive tests and that the better idea would be to find folks without seeking out gamers specifically.
Ultimately, the study doesn't totally dismiss previous links between gaming and cognitive development. However, it does suggest that more research on the subject needs to be done, particularly as games become entertainment phenoms on par with major film productions. In many instances, such as recent releases of titles within the Call of Duty franchise, games involve a larger budget and draw far more consumer attention than major Hollywood movies.
Here's hoping the study receives an appropriate response from other academics and more studies of this kind are released in the coming months and years.
Comments (0)