Fast-action video games may help people to make quick, accurate decisions in all aspects of life.
Fast-action video games may help people to make quick, accurate decisions in all aspects of life.
Previous research found that violent or action video games can increase aggression and hostility in some players but also found that they can benefit others by honing their visual / spatial skills and improving social networking ability. To explore how fast action games help gamers to make quick and accurate decisions, researchers followed 26 Americans aged 18 to 25 years, none of whom had played shooting games before, over several months. Half of the participants played 50 hours of shooting games while the other half played 50 hours of a strategy game.
Both groups were then asked to perform visual and auditory tasks that tested decision-making skills. One task involved observing an array of dots in motion and trying to detect their primary direction of movement. Another asked the subjects to don headphones and listen through white noise to figure out which ear was receiving a tone signal.
It was found that action video gamers displayed superior decision-making ability in terms of speed, and their responses were no less accurate than the other players' responses. These findings held true for diehard video game players as well as non-gamers recruited to play action video games for 50 hours.
The study suggests that people who play action video games are able to make judgments faster and more accurately.
Previous research found that violent or action video games can increase aggression and hostility in some players but also found that they can benefit others by honing their visual / spatial skills and improving social networking ability. To explore how fast action games help gamers to make quick and accurate decisions, researchers followed 26 Americans aged 18 to 25 years, none of whom had played shooting games before, over several months. Half of the participants played 50 hours of shooting games while the other half played 50 hours of a strategy game.
Both groups were then asked to perform visual and auditory tasks that tested decision-making skills. One task involved observing an array of dots in motion and trying to detect their primary direction of movement. Another asked the subjects to don headphones and listen through white noise to figure out which ear was receiving a tone signal.
It was found that action video gamers displayed superior decision-making ability in terms of speed, and their responses were no less accurate than the other players' responses. These findings held true for diehard video game players as well as non-gamers recruited to play action video games for 50 hours.
The study suggests that people who play action video games are able to make judgments faster and more accurately.
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