Action video games increase reading ability and also develop cognition, according to two new investigations. They allow to identify more letters simultaneously in the sequence of a word and thus to read more effectively, at the same time as they enhance spatial attention.
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French and Spanish researchers have discovered that action video games improve the reading ability of their users. This advantage is acquired because the video game shares with the reading a common mechanism: the interval of visual attention and concentration, that is, the number of visual information that can be treated simultaneously in a single glance.
It was already known that action video games are something much more important than entertainment. Given their great visual complexity and the speed of movements, the positive effects they have on perception, attention and spatial cognition are well documented.
However, until now its effects on the control of reading have not been studied. To discover them, the researchers compared the reading ability of video game players with those of non-players and found that gamers correctly read a greater number of words than non-players.
To discover why this happened, the researchers measured the attention span of the participants, focusing on the visual and attentional interval, a measure of the visual attention involved in learning to read.
Another discovery was that the action video gamers were able to simultaneously deal with more visual information than the non-players, confirming that they develop a superior capacity for visual attention. The results are published in the journal Nature Scientific Report.
It is noted that the practice of action video games gives better reading and visual treatment to players. They are able to identify more letters simultaneously in the sequence of a word and thus read more effectively.
Researchers clarify that the discovery does not mean that the practice of video games should be recommended to improve reading ability, but that these advantages can be used to develop educational video games specifically aimed at enhancing these skills.
From this perspective, an action video game designed to train the space of vision and attention will be proposed to fifty students from Grenoble, convinced that the regular practice of this videogame in class will favor the learning of reading in a most children. The results are expected for the summer of next year.
Other cognitive abilities
Other research published this week by the University of Geneva that collects data from the last 15 years has reached another surprising conclusion: video games of war develop the brain's cognitive abilities, especially spatial attention.
In this research, which combined historical data with field work, scientists worked with 8,970 people between 6 and 40 years who passed different psychometric tests to assess their cognitive abilities. It was discovered that the cognition of gamers improved by more than half that of non-players. The results are published in Psychological Bulletin.
On the other hand, the researchers also analyzed the intervention studies of 2,883 people (men and women) who played a maximum of one hour a week and were also subjected to cognitive tests. In this phase it was also discovered that the participants of the war action videogames increase their cognitive abilities by a third in relation to non-players.
