Jordan, who got a Ph.D. in physics and astronomy from Georgia State in 2021, had weak vision in one eye as a child. As part of a research study when he was about 5 years old, he was asked to cover his excellent eye and play video games as a method to strengthen the vision in the weak one. Jordan credits video game training with assisting him go from legally blind in one eye to developing strong capability for visual processing, permitting him to ultimately play lacrosse and paintball. He is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
According to new research, people that regularly play computer game reveal superior sensorimotor decision-making abilities and boosted activity in essential regions of the brain.
Research study findings suggest that video games might be a helpful tool for training in affective decision-making.
Superior sensorimotor decision-making skills and improved activity in essential areas of the brain are revealed in regular computer game players as compared to non-players. This is according to a recent research study published in Neuroimage: Reports by Georgia State University scientists.
According to the authors, who utilized practical magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) in the research, the findings recommend that computer game could be a beneficial tool for training in perceptual decision-making.
” Video video games are played by the overwhelming majority of our youth more than three hours each week, but the helpful results on decision-making capabilities and the brain are not precisely known,” said lead scientist Mukesh Dhamala, associate teacher in Georgia States Department of Physics and Astronomy and the universitys Neuroscience Institute.
” Our work offers some answers on that,” Dhamala said. “Video video game playing can efficiently be used for training– for example, decision-making effectiveness training and therapeutic interventions– once the pertinent brain networks are identified.”
Dhamala was the advisor for Tim Jordan, the lead author of the paper, who provided a personal example of how such research might notify the use of video games for training the brain.
Jordan, who received a Ph.D. in physics and astronomy from Georgia State in 2021, had weak vision in one eye as a kid. As part of a research study when he was about 5 years of ages, he was asked to cover his good eye and play video games as a way to strengthen the vision in the weak one. Jordan credits video game training with helping him go from legally blind in one eye to constructing strong capacity for visual processing, permitting him to eventually play lacrosse and paintball. He is now a postdoctoral scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
The Georgia State research study project included 47 college-age participants, with 28 categorized as routine video game gamers and 19 as non-players.
The topics laid inside an FMRI machine with a mirror that permitted them to see a cue instantly followed by a display screen of moving dots. Individuals were asked to press a button in their left or right hand to show the instructions the dots were moving, or resist pushing either button if there was no directional motion.
According to the research study findings, people that play computer game were much faster and more accurate with their responses.
Analysis of the resulting FMRI brain scans found that the distinctions were associated with boosted activity in particular parts of the brain.
” These outcomes suggest that computer game playing possibly boosts numerous of the subprocesses for feeling, perception, and mapping to action to enhance decision-making abilities,” the authors composed. “These findings begin to illuminate how computer game playing alters the brain in order to improve task efficiency and their prospective ramifications for increasing task-specific activity.”
There was no trade-off in between speed and accuracy of reaction– the scientists explain that the video game gamers were much better on both steps.
” This lack of speed-accuracy compromise would show video game playing as a great prospect for cognitive training as it relates to decision-making,” the authors composed.
Recommendation: “Video Game Players Have Improved Decision-Making Abilities and Enhanced Brain Activities” by Timothy Jordan and Mukesh Dhamala, 22 June 2022, Neuroimage: Reports.DOI: 10.1016/ j.ynirp.2022.100112.