Video Games Change the Brain -Pro’s and Con’s

Like most modern parents I took all the advice about limiting exposure to technology for my children very seriously when they were very small. I don’t know that we were given any significant scientific research that showed us that exposure to technology would harm our children in the early 2000’s but it was certainly implied. The children had limited television time and almost no video game time at home until they were middle school age. When the children started middle school the time that that they spent working with technology at school increased significantly as did the requirement that they use technology at home to complete school assignments. It was at that point that I became aware that this generation of children were using technology to collaborate and socialize more than most of the adults that I knew.

I am now a parent of a “gamer” and it is a situation that concerns me greatly. I worry that my gamers brain is somehow being altered, although I have done everything that I can to instill good moral values (parents don’t always think rationally). This is the perfect time for me to do the research and I am surprised by some of the research that I have found.

Positives:

One Hour of Video Gaming Can Increase the Brain’s Ability to Focus (Shumaker, 2018)

Researchers have demonstrated that just one hour spent playing video games has an effect on the brain. The research team found changes in brain activity and increased performance on tests of visual selective activity in subjects who had spent one hour playing the League of Legends video game. Their results are published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. (Shumaker, 2018) In this research participants’ visual selective attention was assessed before and after playing the video game. After an hour of playing the video game expert gamers and no expert gamers showed changes in brain activity, according to EEG data. (Shumaker, 2018) The result suggested that short periods of gaming can change brain activity and improve attention skills. There will have to be more research to figure out how long the effect lasts.

More than just a change in activity in the brain, gaming increased the size and competence of parts of the brain that help identify visual and spatial relationships among objects (Nicholes, 2017)

Reverse age-related brain decline (Nicholes, 2017).

Scientists at the University of California-San Francisco conducted a study of older participants age between 60 and 85 years. Not only did the participants improves gaming performance surpassing that of participants in the 20s but there was improvement in two other cognitive areas; Working memory and sustained attention. These skills were maintained 6 months after the completion of their training.

Negatives:

Compulsive video gaming is a modern-day psychological disorder (Raul, 2018)

Just when I start feeling a little bit better about the gaming situation that is going on in my house I hear the news that the world health organization says video game addiction is a disease (Healy, 2018)

Defining Addiction :

• The person needs more and more of a substance or behavior to keep him going.
• If the person does not get more of the substance or behavior, he becomes irritable and miserable (Rauh, 2018) .

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has proposed — but not yet fully embraced — a set of diagnostic criteria that are somewhat more detailed (Healy, 2018). The APA describes internet gaming disorder would require a determinination if the gaming has caused the person significant issues with funchioning. It would also call fo fove or the following signs to be present (Healy, 2018):

• A preoccupation or obsession with Internet games.
• Withdrawal symptoms when not playing games.
• A tolerance for gaming, so that a person needs to spend more time playing to be satisfied.
• At least one failed attempt to stop or cut back on playing games.
• A loss of interest in other life activities.
• Overuse of digital games despite realizing the impairment they have caused.
• Lying to others about game usage.
• Using gaming to escape or relieve anxiety or guilt.
• Relationships that have been lost or risked because of gaming.

Who is at risk:

In 2013 the gaming disorder was more prevalent in Asian countries that in North America and affected mostly males between the ages of 12 and 20. A more recent study underscore that gaming addiction is probably a worldwide phenomenon (Healy, 2017).

The good news:

Video game addiction may be a real thing but there are treatments. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been a successful intervention. This therapy which focuses on identifying a problem and devising strategies and paths to resistance, works well, said Petros Levounis, an addiction specialist who chairs the Department of Psychiatry at Rutgers’s New Jersey Medical School (Healey, 2018).

Conclusion:

After looking at the pros and cautionary information I believe that we all have to do what Dr. Cathy Davidson said as her advice in her interview with Andrew Keen. We have to figure out what works for us and our own families individually. We are in an mismatched and uncomfortable time (Techcrun, 2012). Her advice was to relax and know that we will learn more as this information age moves forward. (Advance Film to 12:05)

Healy, M. (2018, July 02). World Health Organization says video game addiction is a disease. Why American psychiatrists dont. Retrieved July 7, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/world-health-organization-recognizes-a-new-form-of-addiction-gaming-disorder/2018/06/29/fb3eb2e2-74b3-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c22f0d0d8c35

Nichols, H. (2017, July 10). How video games affect the brain. Retrieved July 7, 2018, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318345.php

Rauh, S. (2018). Video Game Addiction No Fun. Retrieved July 7, 2018, from https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/features/video-game-addiction-no-fun#1

Shumaker, C & University of Arkansas (2018, February 17). One Hour of Video Gaming Can Increase the Brain’s Ability to Focus. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved February 17, 2018 from http://neurosciencenews.com/focus-video-gaming-8513/

Techcrun, C. (2012, April 19). The Brain is the Network | Keen On...Cathy Davidson. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=727&v=KxtK5Kekdk4