Video Games
Matthew Wills
Dr. Toby Beeny
English 1000
April 17, 2013
Do Video Games Improve Cognition? In today’s society, video games are becoming ever more popular and the more popularity video games receive, the more research that will be done on the topic. Many years ago you may have heard of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and of course the “classic” Super Mario. Today we have better technology and millions of different games out there that can put gamers in tough situations and can lure them to play for hours upon hours. With the gamer population reaching over 90 million in the past decade, their strengths and weaknesses will have a huge impact on society (NBC News). The question is, do video games actually improve cognition and have positive effects on people and how the games can improve learning skills?
Loftus, Geoffrey R., and Elizabeth F. Loftus. Mind at Play: The Psychology of Video Games. New York, NY:
Basic, 1983. Print. Pgs 46-54 This book examines the psychological processes involved in playing video games, discusses behavior problems frequent players can develop, and compares video games to other fads of the past. The chapter that I look at specifically is Chapter 3: Games and The Cognitive System. This chapter goes over the aspects of the mind which requires complex thinking and actions to do certain operations when playing video games. A major theme is the different strategies that can be used for accomplishing the mental goals—like the goal to be good at playing video games. There are sections within the chapter. The sections that I will be evaluating is Attention and Memory.
In the first section Attention Geoffrey Loftus explains that attention is the filtering process and people generally filter information very efficiently. Attention is used in everyday life. The author goes in depth on how people use their attention and to play certain games. The ability to manipulate your attention and be able to focus on one object and then (within a
Dr. Toby Beeny
English 1000
April 17, 2013
Do Video Games Improve Cognition? In today’s society, video games are becoming ever more popular and the more popularity video games receive, the more research that will be done on the topic. Many years ago you may have heard of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and of course the “classic” Super Mario. Today we have better technology and millions of different games out there that can put gamers in tough situations and can lure them to play for hours upon hours. With the gamer population reaching over 90 million in the past decade, their strengths and weaknesses will have a huge impact on society (NBC News). The question is, do video games actually improve cognition and have positive effects on people and how the games can improve learning skills?
Loftus, Geoffrey R., and Elizabeth F. Loftus. Mind at Play: The Psychology of Video Games. New York, NY:
Basic, 1983. Print. Pgs 46-54 This book examines the psychological processes involved in playing video games, discusses behavior problems frequent players can develop, and compares video games to other fads of the past. The chapter that I look at specifically is Chapter 3: Games and The Cognitive System. This chapter goes over the aspects of the mind which requires complex thinking and actions to do certain operations when playing video games. A major theme is the different strategies that can be used for accomplishing the mental goals—like the goal to be good at playing video games. There are sections within the chapter. The sections that I will be evaluating is Attention and Memory.
In the first section Attention Geoffrey Loftus explains that attention is the filtering process and people generally filter information very efficiently. Attention is used in everyday life. The author goes in depth on how people use their attention and to play certain games. The ability to manipulate your attention and be able to focus on one object and then (within a