Page 110 - Pure Life 11

Playing the Gospel of Video Games /109

These players navigate through the game terrain using
in-system navigation tools or on-screen GPS, relying on
navigational “habit” instead of active learning. It appears
that this causes an increase in the amount of gray matter in
their caudate nucleus, while it decreases in the hippocampus.
Reduced gray matter in the hippocampus has previously
been linked to higher risks of brain illnesses, including
depression, schizophrenia, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s disease.
However players who play games that requires players to
navigate using spatial strategies like the 3D Super Mario
games have increased grey matter in the hippocampus.
Games can confuse reality and fantasy. Academic
achievement may be negatively related to over-all time
spent playing video games. Studies have shown that the
more time a kid spends playing video games, the poorer is
his performance in school.
A study by Argosy University’s Minnesota School on
Professional Psychology found that video game addicts
argue a lot with their teachers, fight a lot with their
friends, and score lower grades than others who play
video games less often.
Other studies show that many game players routinely
skip their homework to play games, and many students
admitted that their video game habits are often responsible
for poor school grades. Although some studies suggest
that playing video games enhances a child’s
concentration, other studies, such as a 2012 paper
published in Psychology of Popular Media Culture, have
found that games can hurt and help children’s attention
issues- improving the ability to concentrate in short bursts
1
but damaging long-term concentration.

1. http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-1-1-62.pdf, September 18, 2017.