5 July 2010 This should come as no surprise

5 July 2010 This should come as no surprise


Study: Too many video games may sap attention span

By Sarah Klein, Health.com

July 5, 2010 4:17 a.m. EDT

http://us.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/05/games.attention/index.html?hpt=C2

“C. Shawn Green, Ph.D, a postdoctoral associate in the department of psychology at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, points out that the study doesn't distinguish between the type of attention required to excel at a video game and that required to excel in school.

"A child who is capable of playing a video game for hours on end obviously does not have a global problem with paying attention," says Green, who has researched video games but was not involved in the current study. "The question, then, is why are they able to pay attention to a game but not in school? What expectancies have the games set up that aren't being delivered in a school setting?"



Experts have suggested that modern TV shows are so exciting and fast paced that they make reading and schoolwork seem dull by comparison, and the same may be true for video games, the study notes.”



This excerpt seems to indicate a dual population exists which pre-selects for academic performance. Good students may be wired so that the acquisition of knowledge is sufficient reward in itself. The less academically inclined may require more frequent and direct forms of reward. The better student is able to focus on tasks that provide long-term goal/reward; while the other can’t remain focused on any task of that nature.

While the less-academic student can play video games for extended periods, those games provide a continually changing visual stimulus which, if properly acted upon will lead to a long series of short scenarios allowing the player some imitation of physical satisfaction, usually accompanied by audio-visual effects announcing completion of a short-term goal.

I would wonder if the duality carries over into which group of students become athletes and which become academics/professionals. The stereotypical high school athlete is pictured as less academically motivated; while the students planning a professional/technical career are depicted as less athletic in nature. This duality may have led to the development of shaman/priest classes and hunter/warrior/athlete classes.

Of course, this is all conjecture on my part. There are many students who demonstrate both academic and athletic prowess.

I’m old enough to have not fallen prey to video games. One of the things I dislike about them, at least the ones I have experienced, as well as today’s television programming, is the lack of focus required by the game/program. The multi-media nature of the games, usually played at high audio volume, with content driven as much by graphics as by actual content, seems designed to appeal to players with short attention span. The ability to place a game on hold or to reset it indicates to the players that paying attention is not really important.

I learned to read at an early age and discovered reading for entertainment at that age. The current video game market does not have anything to attract me. I’ve served as a medic in combat – shooter/combat games don’t appeal to me. I don’t have any interest in racing games, and I have absolutely no interest in games that mimic professional athletics. I don’t like over-driven sound effects that damage hearing. Mine is already damaged enough. I can play chess – poorly-, scrabble, and other such games quite happily without having to buy game programs that require an ever-changing line of hardware sold at hyped and inflated prices during artificially created shortages. I’m content to be in this position.

I agree with the general conclusions in the article – more study would be helpful. Future studies might also try to factor in the consumption of caffeinated, sugared, artificially sweetened drinks by the test subjects.