DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Even Greener Pastures
HTML https://evengreener.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Found on the Internet
*****************************************************
#Post#: 15503--------------------------------------------------
Play video games to improve your brain?
By: Aliph Date: May 15, 2019, 7:42 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I know video games have a bad reputation especially among young
moms, in Europe everybody says “no screens before three years of
age”. But did you know that Canadian neuroscientists pretend
that action gamers are a lot more performing in decision making,
in divided attention activities and so on than no gamers?
HTML https://youtu.be/FktsFcooIG8
Now they are thinking to test video games for senior citizens.
What about you all, do you play/did you play video games?
I never did.
#Post#: 15510--------------------------------------------------
Re: Play video games to improve your brain?
By: NealC Date: May 15, 2019, 10:38 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I think you mean "contend", pretend means they made it up.
I had the first Atari 2600 in 1977 when they still called it the
Sears Home Entertainment System. Played a lot of Video Games
until I left for college in 1981, played some games thru
college, played Nintendo as a young married man and a lot of
computer games thereafter.
I always liked strategy games more than 'shoot em ups', and I
think the problem solving kept me sharper.
#Post#: 15511--------------------------------------------------
Re: Play video games to improve your brain?
By: Truman Overby Date: May 15, 2019, 11:31 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Video games don't hold any fascination for me. I bought a Sony
Play Station 6 or 8 years ago. It has a high-speed racing game
on it that I played maybe 12 times. It makes me dizzy. And it's
just not a lot of fun. That's all of the gaming that I've ever
done.
I wish that I had saved my money and not bought the Play
Station.
#Post#: 15512--------------------------------------------------
Re: Play video games to improve your brain?
By: Aliph Date: May 15, 2019, 1:41 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=NealC link=topic=1051.msg15510#msg15510
date=1557934726]
I think you mean "contend", pretend means they made it up. (...)
I always liked strategy games more than 'shoot em ups', and I
think the problem solving kept me sharper.
[/quote]
Thank you Neal, I didn’t know that pretend means “they made it
up”! However I am still a little dubious about what the
neuropsychologist says in this Ted Talk. We always hear about
teenagers and young adults who are completely addicted to this
kind of games. Not the strategic ones but the “shoot them up”
kind. And now comes this lady who tells us that games are great
and that older people should start to play them in order to stay
fit and avoid cognitive decline. They already told that with
language learning and bilingualism.
I do not mind playing chess or backgammon, I even played cards
during my college years. I tried Mario Bros, ages ago and wasn’t
able to concentrate myself on the task.
#Post#: 15520--------------------------------------------------
Re: Play video games to improve your brain?
By: Susan Date: May 15, 2019, 5:29 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I definitely have an opinion on this one. The format of a video
game is just a medium for a game. Games can be very useful in
training your brain. Some games train your brain in ways that
are likely to be functional-- others can be counterproductive.
I have done a lot of study of the subject of play because of my
specialty in psychotherapy-- I am a Registered Play Therapist -
Supervisor. There is research that some games have very clear
benefits. I recall Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist, talking
about how rhythm games like ¨Dance, Dance Revolution¨ and Guitar
Hero, both have sequencing activities that have been shown to
beneficial in helping children improve their reading. The game
facilitates sequencing skills.
Our brain is like a muscle in terms of whatever is used is
developed and whatever is not used atrophies. In my view, a
large part of the problem with video games is that most
reinforce a lot of reacting rapidly instead of responding after
thinking something through. In my opinion, if anyone is
concerned about their child´s impulsivity then those shooting
and driving and many of the most popular games are reinforcing
exactly what you do not want to reinforce-- reacting rapidly--
and need to be limited.
In play therapy, I use old fashioned, non-video games like
checkers, chess, and connect 4 to help impulsive children with
the skills of slowing down and thinking ahead about their next
moves. I teach parents how to model this thinking ahead process
by ¨talking out loud¨ about their thought process when they play
with them.
I did not limit my sons on playing turn based strategy games on
the computer, but I limited the reacting-type video and
computer games. I was clear with them about my view that the
skill of reacting fast is overused and truly successful people
think, plan ahead, and devise strategies in a slower manner.
There are some good games that I feel contributed to both of my
boys being valedictorians and later excellent students with
advanced degrees.
Both of my sons played a lot of online games with my husband--
like Everquest and Lord of the Rings-- the type that had
¨guilds¨ of people working together. Only the ¨guildmaster¨ and
my husband knew how young my youngest son was because he typed
instead of used a microphone-- and he was leading ¨raids¨ (group
challenges) with adults
when he was 8 years old. He had already been playing strategy
games by himself, especially Heroes of Might and Magic, since
he was in pre-school. One day, when he was in Kindergarten, he
asked me ¨Mama, does 13 times 13 =169?¨ while he was playing a
battle in a strategy game and trying to figure the bonuses and
probabilities. My first thought was ¨who has been teaching you
double digit multiplication?¨but then realized he was so
exposed to numbers and modifiers that it already made perfect
sense to him. I have read some research that says those group
cooperation games, where players strategize and work together,
are very good at developing many skills needed in business. My
youngerst is a computer engineer. Those games are exremely
popular among those info nerd engineers.
Personally, I like turn based strategy games. I don´t play much
of the video games but play hours of ¨Civilization¨ on my
computer to relax.
#Post#: 15528--------------------------------------------------
Re: Play video games to improve your brain?
By: Aliph Date: May 16, 2019, 1:18 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Susan, how did you limit screen time with your boys when they
were little?
In Europe there are really big campaigns against overuse of any
screens for children and play therapy is mostly limited to a
technique called sandpit, mostly therapists of the Karl Gustav
Jung movement practice it or the Squiggle Game of the British
psychoanalyst Winnicott where child and therapist alternatively
draw squiggles on a paper and interpret them.
So I was really astonished when the Canadian of the Ted talk
said the that older adults could benefit from training with fast
video games. I wonder how people who never were used to screens
would be convinced to try and have fun.
What game would you think would be beneficial?
#Post#: 15533--------------------------------------------------
Re: Play video games to improve your brain?
By: NealC Date: May 16, 2019, 5:48 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I think Susan is mostly referring to turn or time based strategy
games, where the focus is on management of resources or problem
solving. I enjoy them as well.
One thing parents should keep in mind with video games is
children of a certain age want to find things they are good at,
have competency in. They can find that in video games. By
practicing for hours they gain an incredible level of competency
that is rewarding personally, and among their peers. That
feeling of accomplishment goes beyond some of the violent
subjects.
I can certainly support keeping very young children off screens,
limiting time on computer games, insisting on other activities,
putting content controls on internet use. But there is more to
video games, even the shoot em ups, than violence.
Perhaps for senior adult a little Mario Bros would be "just the
ticket". Low impact, hand/eye coordination, use of memory. It
would be interesting and perhaps therapeutic if Nintendo could
slow some of the games for a senior audience.
#Post#: 15541--------------------------------------------------
Re: Play video games to improve your brain?
By: Nikola Date: May 16, 2019, 7:37 am
---------------------------------------------------------
We had fairly good results using simple computer games with
children at a very early stage of cognitive development (early
stage despite their age, they were teenagers). The games were
very basic and only involved pressing one big switch to make
something happen. It helped them understand cause and effect and
develop thinking skills in general.
Regarding play therapy, sadly, the school wasn't able to provide
sessions for everyone who would have benefited from them. If
they had, I think it would have been based on intensive
interaction where you get engaged in the interaction or activity
with the child on a one-to-one basis and it's all on the child's
terms. So you would encourage human interaction rather than
using equipment that distracts you from it (toys and board games
are fine, obviously). However, I found the iPad extremely
effective with one of the kids who we suspected might be ready
to start understanding more abstract concepts (other than
me-here-now). This is a child who doesn't talk and is a real
challenge to teach. He can sign but only when you hold his hands
and only if there's no other way because he doesn't like being
touched. Anyway, I recorded a video of our interaction on the
iPad and played it to him. Then we watched it together and I
commented on what we were doing. He loved it and gradually
started to "comment" on it, too, with his vocabulary of about
five signs :) So I think that if technology enhances human
interaction instead of replacing it, it can be really helpful.
It could probably help older people, too.
I have played computer games and I have nerdy friends who do the
same. I have also noticed that they're not great for people who
suffer from depression or some form of anxiety because they
might be a form of escaping from reality. People can easily lose
the ability to function in their day-to-day life. I don't know
if this is something that could happen to older people. It could
be avoided by playing video games in a group, I suppose. Heck,
they could go all the way and ask their grandchildren to roll a
spliff for them.
#Post#: 15546--------------------------------------------------
Re: Play video games to improve your brain?
By: NealC Date: May 16, 2019, 8:10 am
---------------------------------------------------------
"Roll a spliff"???
#Post#: 15548--------------------------------------------------
Re: Play video games to improve your brain?
By: Nikola Date: May 16, 2019, 8:13 am
---------------------------------------------------------
A joint.
HTML https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/spliff
*****************************************************
DIR Next Page