GBS RSS: VIDEOGAMES MAKE YOU SMARTER

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Spanish Manlove: Aug 31, 2008; HAILGAYSATAN

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/11/13/want-to-boost-your-brain-power-a-new-study-says-video-games-are-the-answer/

quote:

Remember when you told your kids that spending too much time playing video games would make them lazy?

(Courtesy of Activision)
Now there's a perfect comeback: Playing video games can actually make you smarter.

Really. According to a study published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, playing fast-paced action video games can make someone a better learner.

People who play games such as "Call of Duty" are better able to multitask, perform cognitive tasks such as rotating objects in their minds, and focus and retain information than non-players, Daphne Bavelier, a research professor in brain and cognitive sciences at both the University of Rochester and the University of Geneva, told Bloomberg News. They even have better vision, she said.

How is that possible? It comes down to our brain's ability to model the future.

"Our brains keep predicting what will come next � whether when listening to a conversation, driving, or even preforming surgery," Bavelier said in a news release. �In order to sharpen its prediction skills, our brains constantly build models, or �templates,� of the world. The better the template, the better the performance. And now we know playing action video game actually fosters better templates."

To measure the the effects of game playing, Bavelier's research team paid a group of college students $8 an hour to play video games for 50 hours over a nine-week span. They played two contrasting types of games, according to the study: ones with lots of action ("Call of Duty 2" and "Unreal Tournament 2004"), and ones with minimal action ("The Sims 2" and "Restaurant Empire").

Key for researchers, according to the news release, was determining how quickly action video game players were able to build and refine templates compared to people playing the slower video games. Not only were they able to build templates more quickly, according to researchers, but they were able to do it while they were engaged in another activity.

�When they began the perceptual learning task, action video gamers were indistinguishable from non-action gamers; they didn�t come to the task with a better template,� said Bavelier. �Instead, they developed better templates for the task, much, much faster showing an accelerated learning curve.�

After training ended, researchers revealed, the action video game players didn't immediately lose their new-found abilities. Tested a year later, "they still outperformed other participants, suggesting that they retained their ability to build better templates."

So how did they do it?

�The brain has not just one neuron, but networks of neurons talking to each other,� Bavelier told Bloomberg. �During the task, they were changing their connectivity on the fly to match the task at hand. They knew what was important to pay attention to and what was noise and distraction, and they could suppress distractions.�

The study was funded by the Office of Naval Research, the Swiss National Foundation, the Human Frontier Science Program and the National Eye Institute.

Bavelier's research uses video games to explore how people learn and how the brain adapts to changes in experience, according to her TED bio. Her laboratory uses a multidisciplinary approach and studies behavior, brain imaging, eye tracking and vital statistics to see how individuals learn and adapt to changes in experience, such as playing video games.

Bavelier, by the way, told Bloomberg that the findings of her video game research shouldn't be an excuse to lounge in front of a screen and avoid homework.

�This is no excuse for binging,� she said. �We know that kids who spend a lot of time on computers do less well at school. If you spend too much time on this new media, you spend less time on homework and you will do less well.�

For more information on Bavelier and her research involving video games, check out her TED talk:

# ? Nov 18, 2014 20:55

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 05:57

Whirlwind Jones: Apr 13, 2013; by Lowtax

tl;dr

# ? Nov 18, 2014 20:58

communism bitch: Apr 24, 2009

quote:

check out her TED talk:

lmao

# ? Nov 18, 2014 20:59

Spanish Manlove: Aug 31, 2008; HAILGAYSATAN

Oberleutnant posted:

lmao

that was the only part I read while copying it all because it was the very last bit and I had to laugh at that

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:00

Snatch Duster: Feb 20, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

If this is true, then why am I retarded?

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:01

Applewhite: Aug 16, 2014; by vyelkin; Nap Ghost

Spanish Manlove posted:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/11/13/want-to-boost-your-brain-power-a-new-study-says-video-games-are-the-answer/

Thanks! Gonna fwd this to my parents tagged with a big, fat "I told you so!"

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:01

Spanish Manlove: Aug 31, 2008; HAILGAYSATAN

From cracking the watergate scandal to videogame articles, I present to you the Washington Post

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:03

coolskull: Nov 11, 2007

see mom, i dropped out BECAUSE you took away the playstation.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:44

a shiny rock: Nov 13, 2009

the sims is for dumb people and call of duty is for smart people

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:47

Phlegmish: Jul 2, 2011

thank you daphne bavelier, even though you're not hot at all

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:48

Apthous: Nov 2, 2014; by XyloJW

Video games made me smarter because it made me realize how little I care about people.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:51

Beef Turret: Jul 9, 2009; by Lowtax

"Video games help puzzle solving, pattern recognition and timing skills, all vitally necessary to play more videogames."

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:51

Top City Homo: Oct 15, 2014; Ramrod XTreme

really

MAKES

YOU

THINK

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:52

Applewhite: Aug 16, 2014; by vyelkin; Nap Ghost

Spanish Manlove is there an article that says Pokemon Cards are a sound financial investment? Asking for a friend.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:54

bunky: Aug 29, 2004

im a gosh darn genius

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:57

somethingawful bf: Jun 17, 2005

filed this into my "gently caress you mom and dad" folder

# ? Nov 18, 2014 21:58

BeefThief: Aug 8, 2007

my donkey kong skillz got me into MENSA

# ? Nov 18, 2014 22:09

BONE DOG: Jun 7, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

Ive always felt this. My parents never played video games are used any graphic interface of any kind and they are absolutely retarded when it comes to technology.

Its as if they can't learn. I'm amazed by it.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 22:15

Action Yak: Nov 9, 2008

I can navigate dungeons like a sumbitch.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 22:30

a hole-y ghost: May 10, 2010

i played dota and now im better at clickin g on little guys until they fall down

# ? Nov 18, 2014 22:41

quakster: Jul 21, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

yeah, there's a bunch of small skills you can train with videogames. still not a viable alternative to actual thorough training of something, unless there's a huge breakthrough in edutainment

# ? Nov 18, 2014 22:47

Applewhite: Aug 16, 2014; by vyelkin; Nap Ghost

quakster posted:

yeah, there's a bunch of small skills you can train with videogames. still not a viable alternative to actual thorough training of something, unless there's a huge breakthrough in edutainment

Papers, Please is great for training the next generation of heartless bureaucrats.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 22:57

Al Cowens: Aug 11, 2004; by WE B Bourgeois

Play Factorio and you too can be a process engineer.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 22:59

bunky: Aug 29, 2004

according to the article if you play call of duty enough you can rotate objects in your mind. this truly is the future

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:01

a hole-y ghost: May 10, 2010

ive played millions of hours of video games and now i can conjure boobs or guns in my minds eye and rotate them to my hearts content

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:07

Applewhite: Aug 16, 2014; by vyelkin; Nap Ghost

a hole-y ghost posted:

ive played millions of hours of video games and now i can conjure boobs or guns in my minds eye and rotate them to my hearts content

But what about jiggle physics though!?

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:08

quakster: Jul 21, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Applewhite posted:

But what about jiggle physics though!?

i can differentiate between different jiggle physics, even

gently caress doa

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:12

a hole-y ghost: May 10, 2010

as a video gamer, i can instanty tell the difference between a pair of boobs rendered with ssao and one rendered without

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:13

1gnoirents: Jun 28, 2014; hello

there is something very important missing, because most of that info is pretty vanilla.

it doesn't help if you suck rear end at fps's and never get better.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:15

quakster: Jul 21, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

i like the genre of fiction where everyone is playing mmos 24/7. its like if a kid wrote lotr fanfiction without exposure to actual fantasy, just wow. it was popular in korea for a while. will it spawn the next hunger games in the west? time will tell

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:18

1gnoirents: Jun 28, 2014; hello

quakster posted:

i like the genre of fiction where everyone is playing mmos 24/7. its like if a kid wrote lotr fanfiction without exposure to actual fantasy, just wow. it was popular in korea for a while. will it spawn the next hunger games in the west? time will tell

if i could play eve online for a living i would

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:22

Applewhite: Aug 16, 2014; by vyelkin; Nap Ghost

1gnoirents posted:

if i could play eve online for a living i would

You can though. It's as tedious and time consuming as a real job, but it is hypothetically possible.

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:24

sexy young infidel: Nov 13, 2014; Faggot of the Year
2012, 2014

you should

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:37

CrashCat: Jan 10, 2003; another shit post

quote:

To measure the the effects of game playing, Bavelier's research team paid a group of college students $8 an hour to play video games for 50 hours over a nine-week span. They played two contrasting types of games, according to the study: ones with lots of action ("Call of Duty 2" and "Unreal Tournament 2004"), and ones with minimal action ("The Sims 2" and "Restaurant Empire").

Key for researchers, according to the news release, was determining how quickly action video game players were able to build and refine templates compared to people playing the slower video games. Not only were they able to build templates more quickly, according to researchers, but they were able to do it while they were engaged in another activity.

so if you are playing something that isn't Call of Duty you are literally a scrub wasting valuable brain training time.

did activision sponsor this study or what

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:39

velvet milkman: Feb 13, 2012; by R. Guyovich

people often comment on my immense typing speed and volume. i type so fast and so loud that everyone in the room im currently dominating has to stop what they are doing and gaze upon my wicked digits. my secret? battle.net

# ? Nov 18, 2014 23:42

OldMemes: Sep 5, 2011; I have to go now. My planet needs me.

Isn't this why we have the "I read some article" tag?

# ? Nov 19, 2014 00:01

Painful Dart Bomb: May 23, 2012; And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew he'd say "I'm gonna be like you, dad" "You know I'm gonna be like you".

All this minecraft has prepared me for a long and fruitful career as an autistic person.

# ? Nov 19, 2014 00:34

numberoneposter: Feb 19, 2014; How much do I cum? The answer might surprise you!

i am a master of tactics from war craft II

# ? Nov 19, 2014 00:38

Coldstone Cream-my-pants: Jun 21, 2007

Portal 2 was also shown to be better than Luminosity at whatever it claims to do

# ? Nov 19, 2014 00:47

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 05:57

a bone to pick: Sep 14, 2011; by FactsAreUseless

FYI I would much rather have a GBS with actual news article threads than a thousand threads of i'm gay and cuck emptyquotes

# ? Nov 19, 2014 00:49

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