Mind Games-Video Games Against Mental Decline

8/10/2019 Mind Games-Video Games Against Mental Decline

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Mind Game: The Efects o Video Games Against Cognitive Decline

Mind Games: The Efects o Video GamesAgainst Cognitive Decline

Samira Sackietey

Cornell University

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In the world o cognitive development and neroscience! there have

"een man# stdies that have greatl# in$enced or nderstanding o how

we view the world arond s! and how or "rains process inormation% Mch

o these discoveries are oten e&posed to the p"lic throgh mass media!

which can sometimes present new inormation in a airl# accrate manner or!

in some cases present highl# e&aggerated and inaccrate claims% Moreover!

isses sch as the de"ate on whether '"rain training( games actall#

improve ones cognition is now a hot topic discssed in "oth the science

world and in the media toda#% )ne e&ample can "e ond in the *ew +or,

Times article! 'Can Videos Games -end )f Mental Decline.( athor Clive

Thompson ocses on the research done "# Adam Ga//ale# and ses "oth

Ga//ael#0s ndings and other inormation gathered rom other scientist ali,e!

to ofer readers a chance to nderstand how these games are designed to

help while at same time presenting the var#ing views on this isse%

The main ocs o this article was to showcase the research done "#

Adam Ga//ale# and his colleages with the video game *ero2acer% In the

scientic article! the main prpose o the std# was divided into two

e&periments! the rst e&periment e&amined mltitas,ing a"ilities across the

adlt lie span% *e&t! the second e&periment loo,ed at older adlts and tried

to see i the mltitas,ing mode o game improved the mltitas,ing

perormance on the game% In addition! researchers also want to ,now i the

training dring the game was a ,e# mechanistic eatre in the training and

nall# researchers also want to ,now i the game cold improve 'cognitive

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control a"ilities(4Angera! 5% et al% 36178% To e&amine these 9estions!

researchers e&amined adlts rom the ages o 36;< with thirt# people rom

each decade! and had the participants ndergo training "# pla#ing

*ero2acer on a laptop or an hor! or three da#s in a wee,! across a or

wee, span% Also! researchers divided participants in to diferent grops

where individals who were controls were assigned to pla# the game in a

single tas, mode! while other participants were assigned to pla# the

mltitas,ing mode% Ater the training period! participants were given a 1

month posttraining assessment and then another ollow p = months later%

Efects o the training were evalated "# sing electroencephalography. Afterwards,

results showed that there was a significant increase in the multitasking performance for the

participants assigned to the multitasking mode.This reslt spported the role o

intererence while pla#ing the game as ,e# mechanism dring training%

-inall#! rom the data ac9ired rom the EEG and post assessment tests

researchers ond that the game did signicantl# improve the cognitive

a"ilities o the older participants who completed the mltitas,ing game as

opposed to those who onl# pla#ed in single tas, mode% To ensre that the

nding were in act signicant! participants were "roght "ac, = months

later or an assessment and perormed ver# well% In smmation researcher

ond that their data was consistent with other reports and determined that

*ero2acer had a airl# large 'transer o "enets( and seemed to improve

cognitive a"ilities a great deal in older adlts%

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In the article written "# Clive Thompson! he starts of with his own

e&perience with the game >ro?ect: Evo! which is the clinical version o

*ero2acer% @e "egins to descri"e the game and how the varios tas,s are

hard to ollow even as someone who actall# pla#ed video games reglarl#%

ith mltiple twist and trns! he goes on to descri"e the game as "eing

apart the man# '"rain training(! games that are now a B1%7 "illion "siness

Thompson 43618! and how the# are also lace with mch controvers#% Also he

e&plains how man# in neroscience eld cite that there is not a great deal o

evidence to spport theses games Thompson 43618% The article then goes

on to e&plain that despite the criticism towards these games Adam

Ga//ael#0s wor, has receive a great deal o respect and that his games are

actall# shown to increase cognitive a"ilities% The article also descri"es the

wor, that Ga//ale# has done in a airl# representational manner "#

descri"ing the sample o participants ac9ired and the tas,s that the# were

assigned to as descri"ed in the actal scientic paper% @e also mentions the

paper on Ga//ael#0s! which was p"lished in *atre maga/ine or those who

ma# want to read more on the topic% Thompson also gives the reader a airl#

length# "ac,grond on the neroplasticit# movement that too, place dring

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and cognitive science to "etter ollow the topics "eing discssed% The article

overall presents the ndings in an n"iased and none&aggerated manner "#

voicing the concerns that man# in the eld have towards these games and

their tre efects% Ga//ale# himsel even warns that the ndings o his std#

will need more testing and that the data is onl# tentative Thompson 43618%

It is also e&pressed throghot the article! that scientist are reall# nsre on

whether there is a tre efect "etween these "rain games and cognitive

nction! since there are so man# contradictor# ndings and diferent items

"eing measred% -inall# the article presents some concerns that some

scientists have a"ot the claims that are oten made a"ot games that can

prevent certain cognitive disorders and diseases% Man# o these concerns

inclde these claims were misleading and otright wrong! while other li,e

Ga//ale# elt the "ac,lash wold hrt nding or research or theses games

Thompson 43618%

All in all! Thompsons article does a good ?o" presenting the data and

providing accrate inormation that was ac9ired in Ga//ael#0s std#% Also

the article represents an e&ample o how scientic discoveries shold "e

presented in media and in doing so! the article manages to also address the

h#pe and misrepresentation that is so oten ond in the media when

discssing scientic discoveries% The article also! gives the readers a airl#

well rond view and nderstanding o the isse o video games and cognitive

decline% # doing that the reader is a"le to ta,e awa# a great deal o in

ormation and orm their opinion on the isse%


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ord Co!nt: "#$%$

&eerences

Ang!era# '(# )occan!so# '(# Ga**aley# A(# &into!l# '( # Al+,ashimi# -(#

.ara/i# .(# ((( 'ohnston# E( 01$"23( Video game training enhances

cognitive control in older ad!lts( 4at!re(

Thom5son# C( 01$"63( Can Video Games .end -f Mental Decline7

&etrieved 4ovem8er %# 1$"6# rom

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Mind Games-Video Games Against Mental Decline