| Abstrakt: |
Background: In recent days, video games have become a popular mode of entertainment; especially among adolescents and children. Proficient video gaming demands fast reflexes, good visual-motor coordination, and fast decision making abilities to cope with its tricky challenges. Earlier studies have revealed that video games influence several cognitive processes, by stimulating some of the important brain areas associated with cognition, especially the grey matter in the hippo campus. Thus regular involvement in video games improves one's performance in terms of sensory, perceptual, attentional tasks and reflex action. There is also a common belief that video gaming has negative impact on one's mental wellness and therefore playing video game is being restricted in young population. Objectives: In this study we aimed at evaluating the impact of video gaming on cognitive abilities such as reaction time, memory, visual, verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning skills in adolescent population. Method: Reaction time was measured using a phone application. A questionnaire designed to test the cognitive abilities with respect to visual, verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning were distributed to 195 volunteers, which included gamers and non-gamers. Following this, the volunteers participated in a memory test for assessing the short term/active memory. The scores were evaluated and results were analyzed using SPSS software version 16. Results: We found that video-game players outperformed non-gamers on several cognitive measures. Habitual gamers were found to have a lower reaction time, better active memory, and higher numerical, abstract and verbal reasoning skills. Conclusion: From the present study we can conclude that, habitual video gaming may have beneficial role on the cognitive functions among young minds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
