{"id":421,"date":"2012-12-06T08:08:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T08:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scqa.hult.edu\/en\/news\/hult-labs\/2012\/december\/why-video-games-are-good-for-you--really-good-for-you\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T10:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T10:35:05","slug":"why-video-games-are-good-for-you-really-good-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/why-video-games-are-good-for-you-really-good-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Video Games Are Good For You\u2014Really Good For You"},"content":{"rendered":"

What if as part of your education you were required by teachers \u2013 encouraged and required \u2013 to play video games \u2013 because it\u2019s good for you. And what if you entered a working world only to discover that your employer required \u2013 encouraged and required \u2013 you to allot some time each week for playing video games because it helps you to be a more productive and focused employee? Perhaps the coffee breaks of the future won\u2019t involve coffee, but a game console instead.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why: Dr. Daphne Bavelier, a neuroscientist at the University of Geneva, has conducted research on the effects of video games on the brain, and there\u2019s a good chance she\u2019d advocate one or both of the scenarios outlined above. Her research shows that video games actually help gamers focus (and maintain focus) better than non-gamers \u2013 more so the so-called violent, shoot \u2018em up variety.\u00a0 There is one qualifier, however, and Oscar Wilde probably said it best: \u201cEverything in moderation, including moderation.\u201d The positive effects of video games diminish or go away completely if you overdo it, but you probably knew that already, or possibly a parent has already made the effort (repeatedly) to communicate that to you.<\/p>\n

While professional video gaming is out for most of us, there are a lot of non-professionals out there, and they are not exactly spring chickens. The average age of a gamer is 33, and that factoid alone explodes the myth that video games are not the sole purview of teenagers and kids.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bavelier\u2019s research has also effectively busted some video gaming myths. Fact: games do not have a detrimental effect on players\u2019 vision; they actually seem to make players\u2019 vision better<\/em>. For example, they are particularly good at \u201cdistinguishing between different levels of gray, like when driving in fog,\u201d says Dr. Bavelier. She hopes this finding will lead to games that help people with poor eyesight \u201cre-train\u201d their brains to improve their vision. Fact: gamers do not have the attention span of goldfish; they are really good at tracking data, meaning they are better than non-gamers at quickly parsing though mass amounts of information to identify specific data points.<\/p>\n

But it was the images of gamers\u2019 brains that were the most telling. Dr. Bavelier scanned gamers\u2019 brains as they played to see which areas experienced significant changes \u2013 and operated more efficiently<\/a>.\u00a0 She found three areas closely associated with the ability to pay attention: the parietal lobe (orients<\/a> us to a particular task), frontal lobe (maintains<\/a> our attention on a specific object or task), and the anterior cingulated (controls\/regulates<\/a> our attention). When compared to non-gamer brain images there was no ambiguity: gamer brains were faster and more efficient.<\/p>\n

Now, if you\u2019re not a gamer but think that your own technological multitasking (constant switching from a computer to an iPhone, all while answering instant messages and listening to the latest Grizzly Bear album) is similar<\/em> to gaming, you would be wrong, says Dr. Bavelier. There\u2019s been a study<\/a> on that (multitasking), and researchers concluded that while multitaskers think their modus operandi allows them to get more done (and more productively), it actually prevents them from accomplishing tasks quickly and well. \u201cWhen they’re in situations where there are multiple sources of information coming from the external world or emerging out of memory, they’re not able to filter out what’s not relevant to their current goal,\u201d said Dr. Anthony Wagner, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, who worked on the study. \u201cThat failure to filter means they’re slowed down by that irrelevant information.\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast, Dr. Bavelier found that gamers actually multitask fairly well. She\u2019s continuing her research to identify the elements in video games that help gamers develop the skill to effectively juggle a myriad of tasks. She calls these helpful gaming elements \u201cbroccoli,\u201d and their context \u2013 the video games themselves \u2013 \u201cchocolate\u201d(or, \u201cappealing products that you can resist\u201d). But, \u201cwho wants to eat chocolate-covered broccoli?\u201d It\u2019s now Dr. Bavelier\u2019s goal to extract the good stuff from the broccoli and the chocolate to combine them, and develop new tools that will help non-gamers (especially in the fields of education and rehabilitation) hone their ability to focus and parse through information more efficiently. Sounds delicious.<\/p>\n

To see Dr. Bavelier\u2019s TED Talk, \u201cYour Brain on Video Games: Smarter, Better, Faster, Stronger\u201d you can go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

If you would like to find out more about our business programs,\u00a0download a brochure here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Picture courtesy of Steven Andrew Photography<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hult offers a range of highly skills-focused and employability-driven business school programs<\/a> including a range of MBA options and a comprehensive one year Masters in International Business<\/a>. To find out more, take a look at our blog Business simulations: what can you learn from games?<\/a> Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you to learn about the business world, the future, and yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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