Video Games Doesn't Cause Only Aggression, They Can Actually Help Attention Capability and so Much More!

                Majority of us enjoy the time to sit down and play video games, whether it be a full fleshed out game on a computer or PS4, or a small phone game we play occasionally between classes. It’s a way to keep ourselves stimulated and do something enjoyable with our free time, sometimes used to relax ourselves as well.

                Yet, it is commonly mentioned that playing violent video games will cause an increase in aggression—the more violent games you play the more aggressive you’ll get There are, in fact, other factors—some beneficial—that comes with playing video games.

                Interestingly, in a study conducted by Susan Tortolero et al., they discovered a correlation between playing violent video games and depression. With a prolonged exposure with 2 or more hours of playing high-violence video games there's an increase in depression symptoms—symptoms that are not associated with low-violence video games or time playing video games in general.

                However, as said prior, there are benefits to playing video games. A review of studies done by Marc Palaus et al., expresses that video game exposure can change our brain’s performance and even the structure. Studies show that when it comes to attention, video games improve sustained attention or selective attention, and regions involved with attention in the brain will require less activation on demanding activities due to this exposure. Another benefit is that the size and efficiency of regions of the brain relating to visuospatial skills (the visual perception of the spatial relationships of objects) will increase, such as the right hippocampus enlarging.

                Still, there is the risk of becoming addicted to video games for the stimulus that has befallen many gamers--be it casual or hardcore. Is the benefits enough to outweigh the addiction and possibility of increased aggression and depression? At least, if you avoid playing high-violence video games for an extended period you’ll be getting more benefit than hindrances!

Tortolero, S. R., Peskin, M. F., Baumler, E. R., Cuccaro, P. M., Elliott, M. N., Davies, S. L., Lewis, T. H., Banspach, S. W., Kanouse, D. E., … Schuster, M. A. (2014). Daily violent video game playing and depression in preadolescent youth. Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking, 17(9), 609-15.

Marc Palaus, Elena M. Marron, Raquel Viejo-Sobera, Diego Redolar-Ripoll. Neural Basis of Video Gaming: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2017; 11

Video games can change your brain. (2017, June 22). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170622103824.htm