There is no doubt that video games have greatly changed the way we spend our free time. They are the protagonists of meetings with friends, of moments alone. They also represent an annual investment of almost 100.000 billion dollars. We have all played it at some point. We tend to associate them with moments of disconnection that we don't want to think about too much. What if our favorite video game was beneficial for our brain? Are video games and intelligence linked? But that's not all, there are recreational compounds that also help the brain, some of them are
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Next we will talk about the change we have experienced in the way we perceive the world thanks to video games. We will see that not all video games generate the same cognitive effect. What is gamification? This term comes from the English word game. It refers to the use of games of different kinds (digital or analogue, new or old) so that, applied to a specific exercise, they influence the development of an activity. It is generally used in didactics to refer to games in class, always with the aim of improving the learning and cognitive development of students. We can gamify almost any activity. Simple, dynamic and analog games help us more in this. However, it is increasingly easier to access online content in classes. Video games are slowly making their way there. Many parents expressed their discontent. Video games are not yet accepted as a source of knowledge.
Video games and intelligence
There are several reasons why we consider video games and cognitive development to be connected. In fact, since 2005, the study by Shaffer, Squire, Halverson and Gee established a relationship between learning and video games. It is not the first time that games and intelligence have been associated. It is almost known that chess (which is actually a sporting discipline) has a very positive influence on logical reasoning. This is what games like League of Legends or Battlefield 3 could do. Ultimately, they promote cognitive development. Just like chess, it is necessary to develop a good strategy to be able to excel in the first game. Perfect coordination between eyes and hands is essential in the second since speed offers us a multitude of advantages. This could be a valid bias when we talk about cognitive benefits. Video games require different abilities from us, physical or mental, which we may have, for example, depending on the type of intelligence that dominates us. A player with good spatial intelligence will excel in strategy games. Another with good linguistic-verbal intelligence will be good at Scrabble, for example.
Not all video games
The next question will probably be: does this mean that any video game can make me smarter? The answer is No. In general, we should look for those that increase our ability to process information and our ability to solve problems. We must also take into account the minimum recommended age to play a certain video game. Failure to comply with this age limit may affect potential benefits. Letting children play violent games can influence their social perception. In fact, they might lose interest in the people around them. However, such incidence is not systematic. In fact, it assumes the presence of other variables such as, in particular, an aggressive personality, a personality disorder or a conflictive upbringing. This does not mean that violent games are not suitable for stimulating our intelligence. Several studies support this hypothesis. You just have to understand that this happens only with the adult population. Only when we have reached cognitive adulthood can we fully discern between reality and fiction. Remember that video games are, in essence, positive and even necessary. This is not to say that there is no analog equivalent (any ball sport improves coordination in the same way that a video game like Battlefield does). However, we cannot ignore the advantages offered by these new sources of knowledge.