Doctors Might Prescribe Videogames
July 1, 2009 by srfto
Wouldn’t you hit the ceiling if you heard your doctor make the above prescription? Well, very soon, doctors world-wide are going to do exactly that!!!
No, I am not kidding… Check out the very interesting article by Alvaro Pascual-Leone and Lotfi B. Merabet, not in one of the self-styled medical forums, but in the one-only authentic and good-old reference bible on Science – the Scientific American at ScientificAmerican.com.
The debate has been on for a long time. And the general belief has been that these video games are harmful in several ways to the kids – both physically and socially. Potential damages to eyesight, reduced socialization, not doing enough exercise etc… are all complaints which most parents have when they find their kids getting together in front of a television or console and playing games endlessly.
All this is set to change, if we are to believe empirical evidences based on studies as reported in the article in Scientific American.
“Certainly, the mind is the product of its environment and devoting a lot of time to any one activity will induce changes in the brain. The question is: what changes does video gaming induce, are these changes beneficial or deleterious, and how do they affect behavior?
Growing scientific evidence demonstrates that the human brain dynamically changes in response to experience and to changes in the environment, a phenomenon that is known as ‘plasticity’ claim the authors.”
Besides the benefits accruing to motor skills, studies also apparently suggest that playing video games also enhances some core functions of vision!!! – it is claimed, playing certain action/fps video games result in significant improvements in “visual contrast sensitivity”.
Interestingly, while fast-paced action-oriented games like “Unreal Tournament 2004” and “Call of Duty 2” resulted in improved visual contrast sensitivity and fine motor co-ordination, games like “The Sims 2” and “Warcraft” were found beneficial in promoting empathy and social interaction skills.
So, guys, sure enough we will soon see a lot of research in the Gaming industry exploring technologies with targeted applications of health improvement. Cheer up and keep playing!!!
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