Working memory Essay Example for Free

Working memory Essay In today’s society, video games are becoming ever more popular and the more popularity video games receive, the more research that will be done on the topic. Many years ago you may have heard of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and of course the â€Å"classic† Super Mario. Today we have better technology and millions of different games out there that can put gamers in tough situations and can lure them to play for hours upon hours. With the gamer population reaching over 90 million in the past decade, their strengths and weaknesses will have a huge impact on society (NBC News). The question is, do video games actually improve cognition and have positive effects on people and how the games can improve learning skills? Loftus, Geoffrey R. , and Elizabeth F. Loftus. Mind at Play: The Psychology of Video Games. New York, NY: Basic, 1983. Print. Pgs 46-54 This book examines the psychological processes involved in playing video games, discusses behavior problems frequent players can develop, and compares video games to other fads of the past. The chapter that I look at specifically is Chapter 3: Games and The Cognitive System. This chapter goes over the aspects of the mind which requires complex thinking and actions to do certain operations when playing video games. A major theme is the different strategies that can be used for accomplishing the mental goals—like the goal to be good at playing video games. There are sections within the chapter. The sections that I will be evaluating is Attention and Memory. In the first section Attention Geoffrey Loftus explains that attention is the filtering process and people generally filter information very efficiently. Attention is used in everyday life. The author goes in depth on how people use their attention and to play certain games. The ability to manipulate your attention and be able to focus on one object and then (within a millisecond) be able to focus on another object. This is the key to video games and improving your skills. The author’s evidence he used, he applied to scenarios that people encounter all the time. They used the example of when you are talking in a group of people and the person on the left is talking to and you quickly shift your attention to the person on your right. The change in attention didn’t require you to move a muscle, instead it was all done with your mind. Another great example they gave is when you are trying to destroy all the helicopters in the air when you realize they start dropping paratroopers. You then start concentrating more on the paratroopers because they are going to be closer to you. The argument they gave was that your attention process can only take in one set of information at a time. This section Attention will be useful to support my argument because the authors explained that the more you used your selective attention the better and faster you would get at filtering information. Thus, it backs up my claim on how video games improve cognition. The other section I reviewed is Memory. The authors explained that Memory has two parts: Long-term and Short-Term. Short-term is generally identified as consciousness and very small capacity for ideas. Long-term memory contains information like our name and ability to speak a language and so on. The storage space is virtually unlimited. The authors make the claim that not only the memory (that your brain can handle) is important, but the speed at which you can manipulate that stored information is very important. They researched and found out reminiscence plays a big part in video games. This is the ability to play games one day and come back the next day and improve your skills or just be able to understand and play the game without relearning the aspect. The evidence the authors used were great examples. The first I want to point out is Short-term memory is like the amplifier in the stereo system; it’s the heart of the system, and it’s important to learn to use it as efficiently as possible. He gave many other examples that helped the reader understand how the memory is being used and manipulated while playing video games. This section is very useful to support my claim. It provides people with the background information about skills that you use while playing video games. It also proved that when you use your memory the better it gets. Green, C. Shawn, and Daphne Bavelier. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Video Games. N. p. : n. p. , n. d. PDF. Green and Bavelier start off by talking about the effects of video games on reaction time and visual-motor coordination. They then go on to explain the effects of spatial skills, attention, brain changes due to video games, and the uses for video games. The topic of brain changes due to video games is the topic that I will examine the closest. The main argument he makes in the section of his journal is that the brain releases significant amounts of dopamine while playing video games. And dopamine has a part in many important functions in the brain, playing a role in cognition, punishment, motivation, attention, mood, sleep, voluntary movement, learning and working memory. Thus, the more dopamine means that you could be able to learn more efficiently. Green and Bavelier use a lot of research from other academic journals, books and psychological tests performed. The argument was very strong because he used actual tests that have been performed so the evidence is solid and backs up his argument well. The only question I have about his argument is what might be the side effects of too much dopamine or is the brain limited to producing a certain amount of dopamine. Overall, the source helped me understand how video games produce more dopamine and how it effects learning. The authors were confident in what they said. This will help readers understand how people learn and how videos games help your brain. Way, J. (2011). Video games as learning tools: A library perspective. Access, 25(2), 10-16. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/868572874?accountid=14576 This article/entry describes and explains the benefit behind games made for learning and games that aren’t necessarily made for learning but helped students with other aspects of life. Judith Way, a teacher and librarian at a high-school, explained that she used several different video games to help students learn: My Word Coach and Guitar Hero, yes guitar Hero! She concluded that the games and programs she used was very helpful for more dense learning with children and not only learning but better attitudes and relationships with teachers and students. She also noted that the kids were much more interested in school and participating than ever before. Judith makes a very strong argument about video games and learning. The reason it is strong is because she conducted the study herself and could personally see changes in the students. Her evidence she presented was in the form of graphs that were clear and depicted gain in most cases. She also provided examples by children themselves. There was sufficient evidence that supported learning can be improved by video games. The piece of work will be very helpful on giving an outlook on how video games can improve learning and learning skills. This article can also help give an insight on how they can improve video games to get more positive outcomes in learning. Prot, Sara, MA, Katelyn A. McDonald, Craig A. Anderson, PhD, and Douglas A. Gentile, PhD. VVideo Games: Good, Bad, or Other? Pediatric Clinics of North America59. 3 (2012): n. pag. Print. This article provides an overview of research findings on the positive and negative effects of video games, thus providing an empirical answer to the question, are video games good or bad? The article also provides some guidelines to help pediatricians, parents, and other caregivers protect children from negative effects and to maximize positive effects of video games. This article offers the opposite of my argument. It is a very strong argument that will help me understand the other side and give me an understanding that along with positive effects there are negative too. The authors have consolidated a lot of research they did into one paper. The research comes from a lot of trials and studies conducted on kids playing video games. The evidence that she gave was quality research and she presented all her data in nice organized tables. This article helps me recognize the opposite side of my proposal. This source will help me give evidence of the opposite view and statistics so that I can counter argue the ideas. This source narrows the topic of video games to violent videos which isn’t necessarily what I am writing about but it still gives a lot of negative effects that can come from video games in general. This research that I have done will greatly help narrow my topic to a more specific idea and it reassures my views on the topic. Once I narrow my topic even more I can get even more specific details. And more details means a better argument. Even though I have found out that there are positive ways that video games effect people, I have also noticed that research proves there are many negative effects too. This will help me in my argument to provide specific examples where only positive effects can happen.