Let's Take a Ride To Explore "Videogame or Intelligence" kids or Adults
Hi friend there is no doubt that videogames have meant a huge change in the way we use our free time. They are protagonists of meetings of friends, of moments alone, and constitute an annual investment of almost 100,000 million dollars. We have all played at some time and, generally, we relate them to moments of disconnection in which we do not want to think too much. But, what if our favorite video game was benefiting our brain? Are videogames and intelligence related?
Next we will see the change that we have experienced in our way of seeing the world thanks to videogames and we will observe how not all videogames have the same cognitive effect.
What is gamification
Gamification: Refers to the use of games of various kinds (digital or analog, new or old) so that, applied to a specific exercise, they influence the development of an activity. It is generally used in didactic to refer to the game in the classroom, always in order to improve learning and cognitive development of students.
We can gamify almost any activity. For this, simple, dynamic and analog games help us more. However, it is becoming easier to access content in the classroom network, so videogames make their way. They can constitute the activity or a complement that the students carry out at home. For this reason, many parents have expressed their complaints; games of this kind are still not accepted as a source of knowledge.
Source imagen informatica.blogs.uoc.edu
Videogames and intelligence: why?
There are several reasons why we consider that videogames and cognitive development are connected. In fact, since 2005, the study of Shaffer, Squire, Halverson and Gee established a relationship between learning and videogames. It is not the first time that games and intelligence are related: it is almost general knowledge that chess (which is really a sport discipline) affects very positively the logical reasoning.
This is what games such as League of Legends or Battlefield 3 could be doing: both contribute very positively to different areas of the brain and, ultimately, favor cognitive development. In the same way as chess, to be able to excel in the first one, a good strategy must be developed. For the second, a perfect coordination between eyes and hands is essential, since speed gives you a multitude of advantages.
This could be a valid division when it comes to talking about cognitive advantages. Video games demand of us diverse abilities, physical or mental, that we can have, for example, in function of the type of intelligence that dominates in us. A player with a good spatial intelligence will excel in strategy games, whereas if ours is the linguistic-verbal intelligence nobody will surpass us to the Apalabrados.
Not all video games
The next question will probably be: "Does this mean that any videogame can make me smarter?" The answer is no, we should seek, generally, those that increase our capacity to process information and our abilities when solving problems.
Another important aspect to consider is the minimum age recommended to play a certain video game. Not respecting this age restriction can affect the possible benefits. Letting children play violent games can affect their social perception, causing them to be disinterested by the people around them. Although it is true that this does not happen in all cases, since the presence of other variables such as an aggressive personality, a personality disorder or a conflictive education is needed for it to develop, among others.
This does not mean that violent games are not adequate to stimulate our intelligence, since several studies support the hypothesis. It is only necessary to understand that this happens in the adult population. It is important to find ourselves in cognitive adulthood in order to discern perfectly between reality and fiction.
In short, video games are, in essence, positive, and even necessary. This does not mean that there is no analog equivalent (any ball sport improves coordination in the same way as a video game like Battlefield), however, we can not be unaware of the benefits offered by these new sources of knowledge.