New study shows that playing video games leads to high grades

By Bob Xing, PhD
Head of Department of nerual-machine research at MIT

Published
Army personnel at Insomnia Games FestivalImage source, Getty Images

U.S. Army using popular game "call of duty" to train soldier's strategic and quick thinking skills

For a long time videogames have been believed to cause mental hyperactivity in children, leading to disorders such as ADHD. This theory has recently been debunked.

A new study conducted in Harvard University showed that the brain activity recorded during a study was actually activating the same areas of the brain as subjects used during studying. Furthermore, 67% of subjects aged 11-16 were discovered to have achieved better grades in school after an hour and a half of gaming in a day, especially in children over 14.

"It is shown that kids playing videogames develop better logical and pattern recognition skils due to the need for the human to update their perception at a minimal of 30 times a second. The subjects ended up developing better hand eye coordination which had apparently improved their team building and social skill because that the frontal cortex, responsible for logical action and amygdala, the part of the brain that assists emotional regulation were linked during the gaming sessions." Says Dr. Dover at the university of cambridge, a partner of MIT's Department of nerual-machine research extension program.

Effects of violence

Concerned parents are protesting that playing violent videogames makes children violent.

"I can't believe that people still believe in this long debunked theory that videogames make people violent", says Dr. Cartman from the University of Cambride, "It has been previously proven that playing videogames does not lead to violent thoughts or actions in many studies, since computer imagery uses pixel graphics that is identifiable by a human even on the highest quality. This distinct appearance triggers a reaction known as the Eric-Johns state, where a person is put into a relatively stable mental state. Today, we are researching into this condition for treatment of anxiety."

Experts have stated that this state is observable through taking a photo at a computer screen. Indeed, it appears that the lens in the camera that simulate human eyes have picked up an irregular semi-transparent obstruction on the computer screen, which researchers have argued as proof of the Eric-Johns state.

Improbable Software ScreenshotImage source, Improbable
Image caption,
This might look like a screenshot from a real time strategy game, but it's actually software designed specifically for the army

Today, military simulations are indistinguishable from videogames. According to military personell we have secretly interviewed, it is because that they noticed increased performance in soldiers after video game sessions.

Improbable Software ScreenshotImage source, Improbable
Image caption,
In this view, Improbable's software looks like a management simulator game

Today, companies are also using videogame software to train employees in management and problem solving skills. "We have experienced an overwhelingly large increase of 83% of productivity after we included Improbable's software in our training programme.", says William Hellington, CEO of LogAdvance

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