How games change your brain:
[Via Cosmic Log]
Mind Research Institute
This graphic shows areas of the brain that functioned more efficiently after three
months of video-game practice (blue) as well as areas where the cortex became
thicker (red). The left and right views show the left and right brain hemispheres.
The effects of video-game playing on your brain have been studied for a quarter-century, but the latest research reveals that there are deep puzzles yet to be solved….
[More]
I’m afraid to see what my son’s mind looks like. These changes were seen with an average of only 90 minutes of game playing a week! And they found “that the Tetris players’ brain function became more efficient in areas linked to critical thinking, reasoning, language and information processing.”
The places where the brains became thicker, indicating more neurons, where the brain deals with planning complex movement and dealing with large amounts of sensory information.
I would suspect game playing in primates has always had an important part in the development of many important higher functions of the brain. Humans have always had places for game playing, even in adults. That would explain football.
But now we can participate in a much larger variety of games by using digital means. These games could be designed to produce specific results in or brain structure. Finding out how to create games that would increase critical thinking, for example,would be really wonderful.
Nice report. And there is this great comment from the researcher:
“In science, everyone makes a very big deal about having a hypothesis before you go on a fishing expedition,” Haier said. “Never once in 20 years has my hypothesis worked out the way I thought it would. The brain is always a surprise.”
That is what is so much fun with science – being surprised. As Issac Asimov said:
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I’ve found it!), but ‘That’s funny…’
Science is much more fun when we are wrong. Then we get to find out something new, something unusual. The best science is done by those that love this aspect of research – it requires an adaptability of thought that can be exhilarating.
It takes a special sort of person who likes being wrong, who is excited by trying to figure out the unknown. Many like to take small steps along the path of knowledge, hoping not to slip off and lose the trail. Others just take a huge leap, knowing that they will be smart and adaptable enough to land on their feet or potentially find a whole new trail.
The world needs both types – doers and disruptors. Too much of either will result in problems.
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by *sean
