Video Games Lead To Quick Thinking Skills

shmG writes "Parents who dismiss video games as mindless entertainment with no intrinsic value for their children may not have a leg to stand on anymore thanks to science. Cognitive scientists from the University of Rochester have proven action based video games train people to make quick, accurate decisions. These skills acquired from video games, which help players develop a heightened sensitivity to their surroundings, can be used in real world applications. This includes multitasking, driving, reading small print, keeping track of friends in a crowd, and navigating around town."

Video Games

[wbav]

Creating first post people everywhere

I quickly determined...

[Bai jie]

the article was tl;dr

Yep

[Dyinobal]

I know grand theft auto helped me learn learned how to drive, and perhaps how to lose the cops.

It's true

[eln]

I once played Call of Duty for 72 hours straight. On my way to the 7-11 to get another case of Code Red I heard a loud bang right behind me. Instantly I spun around, dove to the ground, and emptied the clips on the two handguns I keep strapped to my sides at all times in order to fend off any crazy baseball-bat-wielding maniacs (I play a lot of Grand Theft Auto too). Anyway, it turns out it was just a school bus full of kids backfiring, but the incident gave me a lot of confidence in my ability to react quickly in any given situation. Shame about the kids, though.

video wasd..games just wasd.. make me spaz..

[bl8n8r]

when I wasd type. Not sure wasd about decisiveness though.

First Post!

[Anonymous Coward]

At least it would have been if I had developed quick thinking skills

"You fell into a trap!"

[PolygamousRanchKid]

"You are damaged by the fall!"

I saw that while playing Rogue back in the early '80s. I'm still considering what I should do next.

Yeah, quick thinking, indeed . . .

Re:It's true

[nschubach]

Kids get a lot of hit points these days thanks to the sugars and fatty foods. They'll be fine. ;)

Re:I quickly determined...

[Tiger4]

"other results of the study indicated subjects had a reduced attention span when comp... Squirrel!! ...ared to a control group."

Re:Hum.

[Anonymous Coward]

Basically, video games have the same effect as a job that forces you to make lots of decisions really fast. It just exercises the "make decisions" part of the brain, where as reading or watching TV or painting a wall probably doesn't.

On the other hand, playing online air-combat simulations has increased my SA (Situational Awareness) by giving me practice in keeping track of contacts all around my plane in three dimensions, making keeping track of the cars around me on the road in only two dimensions much easier.

On the other hand, it didn't help me much when a car braked suddenly in front of me, and I pulled back on the yoke and hit hard right rudder to pull up and turn right... which had me pulling uselessly on the steering wheel and stomping on the accelerator, running into their rear bumper.

Re:Video Games

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Camper!!

Re:hmmm

[znerk]

Except the study was about action games, and the improvement was in speed, not accuracy.

From the summary:

action based video games train people to make quick, accurate decisions.

Speed and accuracy.

I'll just assume you're not a gamer, shall I?

Re:It's true

[Nyder]

Everyone runs faster with a knife in their hands.

Double Dragon taught me to wait for the other person to reach down for the knife, then attack.

Re:Apparently not...

[meteficha]

NetHack isn't an action based video game.