Videogaming Keeps the Brain From Aging

Ant wrote to mention a Globe and Mail article stating that videogames keep the mind young and help in quick focusing on different tasks. "A body of research suggests that playing video games provides benefits similar to bilingualism in exercising the mind. Just as people fluent in two languages learn to suppress one language while speaking the other, so too are gamers adept at shutting out distractions to swiftly switch attention between different tasks. A new study of 100 university undergraduates in Toronto has found that video gamers consistently outperform their non-playing peers in a series of tricky mental tests. If they also happened to be bilingual, they were unbeatable."

Re:Interesting, although gamers already know this.

[Spiffae]

This exact point is covered in the extremely excellent "Everything Bad Is Good For You" [amazon.com] which I'm sure Slashdot has reviewed...let's see. Yep [slashdot.org].

It's an excellent book and well worth the time and money. Covers a huge range of topics from watching TV to playing Grand Theft Auto, and it does so in a well informed and enlightening way.

Re:Europe vs US

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll try to help you understand this from the perspective of a "stupid American" who is only fluent in three languages. In some ways, your statment is correct. Many Americans think the sun rises and sets on the United States and many are completly uninterested in the rest of the world, but I have lived in Germany and in Mexico have found the "my country is better than your country" attitude to be a little more universal than many people want to admit. No matter where you are from, it's stupid and does nothing to help solve the worlds problems.

For most human beings, the place where they were born and raised is almost always the "best" place. It's a natural sentiment, even for people who have suffered under the worlds worst tyrants. Home is home. The places you know and the people you love are there. Unless of course you have lived in another country and then your point of view changes. If you are like most people, when you live in a different country, you will make friends and will learn from them and care for them and the place where you lived, even when you go back to your home country. You will find that you have changed, but in a very good way.

As for Americans being "stupid" because Bush is still president, well... You need to understand the way Americans think. So as soon as I can find one, single definition to describe how Americans think, I'll let you know. So far, there are about as many opinions as there are Americans. My opinion on this is that people here followed the old adage: "Don't change horses in the middle of a race." One thing I can tell you for sure is that I did NOT vote for Bush either time. The good news is that he cannot run for election again. Wooohoo!

Now on to learning German. Yup it's hard, but well worth the effort.

Good Luck!

Matt