Video games… are beneficial?
Photo from: Ekkaphan Chimpalee/ Shutterstock
Edited by Rachel Heung
A new and recent study done by researchers at the University of Houston shows that video games don’t actually damage the young minds of children, despite what parents say.
The study shows that even playing 4 and a half hours would not impact brain function and development; as well as games that supposedly help brain development and function do not work. There was no link revealed between what types of games children play for how long and the cognitive test performance of the children. Surprisingly, above-average video game playing duration increases children’s intelligence more than average, though watching TV or social media did not have a positive nor negative effect.
“[...] Our results support the claim that screen time generally doesn’t impair children’s cognitive abilities, and that playing video games can actually help boost intelligence. This is consistent with several experimental studies of video-game playing.” says Torkel Klingberg of the Karolinska Institute as a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience.
The effects of behavior on physical activity, sleep, well-being or school performance were not examined in the study, so nothing can be said about these subjects.
Another study published by JAMA Network Open showed that nearly 2000 children who played more than 3 hours a day had better performance on cognitive skills tests which involved impulse control and working memory, being faster and more accurate than those who never played. Their brain activity in regions of the brain associated with attention and memory were higher, according to an analysis of MRI brain imaging. It also showed that there was more brain activity in frontal brain regions associated with cognitively demanding tasks; while there was less brain activity in regions related to vision.
Professor Jie Zhang, working on curriculum and instruction at the University of Houston’s College of Education, says “Reasonable amounts of video gaming should be okay, which will be delightful news for the kids. Just keep an eye out for obsessive behavior. At least now we understand that finding balance in childhood development is the key, and there’s no need for us to over-worry about video gaming.”
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