Video Games Affect the Brain

Video gamers, parents, politicians and the press often lionize or attack video games, which opens the door to spin that obfuscates our understanding of how these games affect people. For example, the European Parliament has been debating whether to limit children’s access to video games. In a press statement about the report that resulted from its deliberations, the parliament concluded that games could have “harmful effects on the minds of children.” Reporting on this statement, however, the headline in the Guardian read, “Video games are good for children.”

Psychologists and neuroscientists conducting well-designed studies are beginning to shed light on the actual effects of video games. These studies show a clear trend: Games have many consequences in the brain, and most are not obvious—they happen at a level that overt behaviors do not immediately reflect. Because the effects are subtle, many people think video games are simply benign entertainment.

Research projects of variable strength have substantiated claims of both beneficial and harmful effects. Too often the discussion ends there in a “good” versus “evil” battle, reminiscent of the plots of the violent video games themselves.

In the article, the author had implemented many researches from scientist from all aspect of games. The author told that in this article scientist had found out that video games are like a natural teacher that provided with knowledge and immediate feedback on the players achievement by giving them punishment or reward, video games also assist in learning at different levels, it also give the player the chance to practice until they became master at a certain point. The author also said that playing action video games can improve one’s visual on the computer screen. Research suggests that playing video games can lead to different types of benefits “a 2002 U.S. Department of Education report presented evidence on the effectiveness of educational games. One neuroscience study, published in Nature, showed that playing action video games can improve visual attention to the periphery of a computer screen.” (Video Games Affect the Brain—for Better and Worse by Douglas A. Gentile). The article also purposed that different type of games also had different type of effect which is include good and bad effect.