According to recent research from the Jama Network, gaming may help young people improve abilities such as multitasking and problem-solving. As the number of people who play video games grows worldwide, including a sizable proportion of children and young adults, the question of whether or not playing video games can improve a person’s mental capacity and brain development is gaining traction. In this post, we will explore the potential benefits of video games.
Enhanced Mental Processing Capabilities
Video game play has been linked to better cognitive ability, particularly in visual-spatial cognition and attention. The capacity to detect and recall items and their spatial relationships is referred to as visuospatial ability. This ability may be useful in various scenarios, including driving, navigating a city, understanding signs and symbols, and making sense of your environment.
Students’ capacity to perceive and control spatial connections is essential in mathematics, natural sciences, engineering, meteorology, and architecture. This is likely the major benefit of gaming, and although it will undoubtedly benefit students and working professionals, it will also benefit casual gamers in their daily lives.
Improved Hand-Eye Coordination Improvements
One of the major advantages of gaming is the improvement of hand-eye coordination. According to a 2014 research conducted at the University of Toronto, people who play video games consistently beat those who do not in terms of sensorimotor abilities.
Hand-eye coordination abilities are essential for swiftly learning and adjusting to activities such as biking, typing, and other similar activities that require you to coordinate the movement of your hands with the movement of your eyes. For example, learning to ride a bike requires you to coordinate your hand and eye movements.
The research involved 36 participants, 18 of whom were gamers and 18 of whom were not. All participants in both groups were given a basic activity to perform on their screens, which included directing the mouse along a series of green dots. At first, there seemed to be no difference between the two groups. Although the tasks became increasingly repetitious as the testing progressed, the findings revealed that gamers performed with better speed and accuracy than non-gamers. Video gameplay has been related to improved sensorimotor pattern acquisition, which may benefit the execution of real-world tasks.
Increased Multitasking Capabilities
According to new research results, gaming may increase multitasking abilities. Multitasking and getting more done quickly is a great productivity boost, and gaming is a fantastic method.
Most video games, particularly action games, test players’ ability to multitask. You must watch the on-screen adversary, maintain track of your health, ammunition, and other numbers, and navigate your character across the screen. It is also possible that you and your teammates may need to converse via a microphone. Modern video game players, with their fast-paced action and hyper-stimulation, may acquire a higher capacity to multitask.
Enhanced Prosocial Conducts
While it is true that hours spent in front of a computer might cause gamers to become less social, many games emphasize communicating with others. Even if it is only a game, playing games that demand you collaborate with other players and connect with them through text or voice chat may increase your capacity to collaborate with people and have more enjoyable social interactions. You can also use Leadar to find video gamers to collaborate with and play games online within your area.
The social side of gaming has also expanded beyond solely altruistic titles. Students at school, for example, may bring up video games in discussion. Even though video games are becoming more of a social hobby, it is critical to maintain a healthy mix of online and offline contacts.
It Is a Form of Exercise
As opposed to games where you remain immobile the whole time, playing video games that encourage you to move about and keep active may help your physical health. A prominent example is the rise of virtual reality gaming. Most of these games involve mobility, either walking or standing, which makes them healthier than others that force you to sit the whole time.
A new era will begin with the launch of the next generation of virtual reality games. Mobile game developers have also begun to create games with a more tactile, spatial component. Players’ actual physical locations are used to move them through the game’s virtual universe.
Playing Video Games May Be Beneficial to Your Eyes
Video gaming may be excellent for your eyes if you don’t stare at the screen for 10 hours straight. In one research, ten male non-gamers were taught first-person action games for 30 hours before competing against ten other non-gamers in a series of exams. The players participating in the activity had a greater spatial resolution, enabling them to distinguish individual items in highly crowded situations. They trained their minds to focus on the finer elements of a game since those were the bits that always made a difference.
Regular Gaming May Boost Mental Health
Evidence shows that one of the benefits of playing video games is that they help relieve stress by improving mood, resulting in improved heart rhythms. Therapists have been using video games for treatment for over a decade because of the association (not causation) between video games and stress, as shown by many unrelated studies.
Improves Resilience and Tenacity
In video games, you either achieve your objective immediately or continue to attempt it, leveling up and learning from your failures until you do. As a result, some academics and instructors believe that playing video games might help children build healthy self-esteem and educate them to see failure as a chance to progress.
A Final Thought
You can optimize the advantages of video games and even increase your IQ if you play them in moderation and complement them with other interests and pastimes. If gaming takes over your life, you may have issues and, in severe circumstances, develop a gaming addiction. It is best to play in moderation to reap all the benefits of video games.
