Action gamers make better drivers, soldiers, surgeons

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Action gamers make better drivers, soldiers, surgeons

Posted: 9/14/2010 1:53:47 AM EDT

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/14/action_games_make_you_a_finer_human_being/

Action gamers make better drivers, soldiers, surgeons

Presumably not while actually playing, though

By Lewis Page • Get more from this author

Posted in Biology, 14th September 2010 09:39 GMT

Staeside brain experts say that their latest research indicates that
playing action video games makes people more able to make correct
decisions quickly under time pressure - potentially turning them into
superior drivers, soldiers or surgeons.

"It's not the case that the action game players are trigger-happy and
less accurate: They are just as accurate and also faster," says
cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier. "Action game players make more
correct decisions per unit time. If you are a surgeon or you are in the
middle of a battlefield, that can make all the difference."

Bavelier and her colleagues have proved this by carrying out a study
in which a group of people who had not played video games previously
were set to play either action offerings Call of Duty 2 and Unreal Tournament or slo-mo strategy yawnfest The Sims 2.

Afterwards, the study participants were asked to perform tasks
against the clock in which they had to look or listen, decide what was
happening and answer a simple question - for instance, is an
erratically-moving group of dots migrating left or right. The
action-games group were able to give answers significantly faster than
the strategists, with no loss of accuracy.

According to Bavelier and her colleagues, the process of playing
fast-moving action games trains the brain's natural processes of
"probabilistic inference", the means whereby it can build a decision by
rapidly and constantly collecting pieces of information.

"The brain is always computing probabilities," explains Bavelier. "As
you drive, for instance, you may see a movement on your right, estimate
whether you are on a collision course, and based on that probability
make a binary decision: brake or don't brake."

The researchers' new study, Improved Probabilistic Inference as a General Learning Mechanism with Action Video Games, can be read here by subscribers to the journal Current Biology.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:16:14 AM EDT

[#1]

Quoted:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/14/action_games_make_you_a_finer_human_being/

Action gamers make better drivers, soldiers, surgeons

Presumably not while actually playing, though

By Lewis Page • Get more from this author

Posted in Biology, 14th September 2010 09:39 GMT

Staeside brain experts say that their latest research indicates that playing action video games makes people more able to make correct decisions quickly under time pressure - potentially turning them into superior drivers, soldiers or surgeons.

"It's not the case that the action game players are trigger-happy and less accurate: They are just as accurate and also faster," says cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier. "Action game players make more correct decisions per unit time. If you are a surgeon or you are in the middle of a battlefield, that can make all the difference."

Bavelier and her colleagues have proved this by carrying out a study in which a group of people who had not played video games previously were set to play either action offerings Call of Duty 2 and Unreal Tournament or slo-mo strategy yawnfest The Sims 2.

Afterwards, the study participants were asked to perform tasks against the clock in which they had to look or listen, decide what was happening and answer a simple question - for instance, is an erratically-moving group of dots migrating left or right. The action-games group were able to give answers significantly faster than the strategists, with no loss of accuracy.

According to Bavelier and her colleagues, the process of playing fast-moving action games trains the brain's natural processes of "probabilistic inference", the means whereby it can build a decision by rapidly and constantly collecting pieces of information.

"The brain is always computing probabilities," explains Bavelier. "As you drive, for instance, you may see a movement on your right, estimate whether you are on a collision course, and based on that probability make a binary decision: brake or don't brake."

The researchers' new study, Improved Probabilistic Inference as a General Learning Mechanism with Action Video Games, can be read here by subscribers to the journal Current Biology.

With ZERO social skills and a infladed sense of self worth that every gamer I have met to date. I call BULLSHIT.

Thats like saying kids that fly flight simulation games are better pilots, which I can tell you they are first hand is far from the truth, they are some of the hardest to train.

Talk about yet another way for a group to sit around for 20 hours a day playing video games. Like they need another excuse.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:30:38 AM EDT

[#2]

Dis you even read the article? It's about increasing perception and reaction time, improving a persons OODA loop if you will. Seriously, reading comprehension man, try it.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:42:20 AM EDT

[#3]

Serious methodology fail and assumption fail.

What a joke.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:43:54 AM EDT

[#4]

And here all along I was told by Arfcom it was marijuana users that held that distinction.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:48:36 AM EDT

[#5]

and just think about this, the people that do these studies get grant money from tax dollars so they can do this type of research and get phds for it. It's a never ending cyle.

Posted: 9/14/2010 2:49:25 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Dis you even read the article? It's about increasing perception and reaction time, improving a persons OODA loop if you will. Seriously, reading comprehension man, try it.

I read it. But pewrwception and reaction time are very small parts of those particular occupations. Just because you have the hand eye coordination to make a little guy jump around on a screen, is a far cry from that being the single thing that makes for a better professional.

Social skills, time management, personal control and superior knowledge of a subject and lastly MOTIVATION are what make great pilots, surgeons...................................not video games. I dont care that you can play games and talk to your mother about what you want for your midnight meal at the same time. Or that you can video chat with your guild, cast spells and give yourself a handy all at the same time. Sorry.

Posted: 9/14/2010 3:07:31 AM EDT

[#7]

If only they weren't 300lb with the muscle tone of bread dough.

Posted: 9/14/2010 3:41:17 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted: