Ready to game?
We’ve been trying every promising trick to improve my kid’s working memory, auditory processing, language development and other brain skills. Motor coordination, pre-frontal cortex and visual acuity, spatial reasoning, decision-making–all of these have been bandied about as delays that may need attention.
Then I read this:
“In neurological terms, action games seem to ‘retune connectivity across and within different brain areas’…That means gamers ‘learn to learn.’”
–”Brain-Changing Games” by Lydia Denworth, Scientific American MIND
It seems first-person shooting games improve attention, spatial reasoning, visual acuity and decision-making. They can also be addictive and lead to an increase in aggression.
As if the kid didn’t have enough screen time already, I’m actually considering introducing him to more video games. I just wish I could find a first-person action game that wasn’t about killing people.
My daughter loves Skylanders and Pirates 101, both “action” games that are relatively light on the violence and arguably help to “improve attention, spatial reasoning, visual acuity and decision-making”. There’s also Minecraft, which is becoming almost as popular from an educational angle as it is with kids who love playing it.
Minecraft in the Classroom and Library: http://ow.ly/gHqJq
I was hoping you’d have some suggestions! Thanks, Guy I’m going to check out all three of these.
Hey There. I discovered your weblog the use of msn.
That is a very well written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your
useful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely return.