The Impact of Computer Games - Literature review Example

Running Head: THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER GAMES The Impact Of Computer Games [Name Of Student] [Name Of Institution] THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER GAMES INTRODUCTION Technology is an increasingly important cognitive and socialization agent for contemporary youth (Arnett, 1995). In fact, most adolescents today have access to a variety of technologies such as computers, the Internet, and computer games, with the latter including computer games and games played on platforms like the Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, or Sony PlayStation, as well as hand-held, arcade, and cell phone games. Although some attention has been paid to the potential negative effects of excessive Internet and computer game use, understanding why adolescents differ in their involvement in technology use is, for the most part, still in its infancy. There have been clear indications, however, that playing computer games and using the Internet can be both positive and negative for adolescents. For example, concerns have been raised about excessive technology use, particularly because of the relation found between repeated playing of violent computer games and aggressive behavior (e.g., Anderson & Bushman, 2001), but researchers also have hypothesized that computer use may be an important positive agent for cognitive and social development. For example, computer use has been linked to increased visual intelligence skills (Subrahmanyam, Kraut, Greenfield, & Gross, 2000). Examining the full spectrum of frequency of use (i.e., from nonuse to excessive use), then, is critical. The present aims to discuss the impact of computer games examining prevalence, frequency, and psychosocial predictors of Internet and computer game use among adolescent boys and girls. DISCUSSION The potential benefits of computer use for cognitive development, in particular, have often been raised. Parents report buying computers to enhance their children's educational opportunities and to prepare them for the “information age” (Turow, 1999). Although parents report being worried about the content of their children's television, gaming, and Internet activities, they also appear to embrace computers and the Internet as valuable learning tools (Turow, 1999). Similarly, educators support the use of technology for learning activities (Wood, Mueller, Willoughby, Specht, & DeYoung, 2005). Indeed, computers often are used at home to help children with their schoolwork (Subrahmanyam et al., 2000). Furthermore, computer games have been shown to enhance children's spatial performance skills and have been positively related to reading skills and academic performance (Nichols, 1992; Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 1994). Given the rapidly increasing prevalence of computer use among children and adolescents, more work is needed to determine the relation of technology use to cognitive development. In the past, there was concern that spending time playing computer games and using the Internet may lead to increasing levels of social isolation. For example, Lanthier and Windham (2004) found that self-reported negative aspects of Internet use (e.g., negative thoughts, feelings, and experiences) were associated with poor college adjustment. Increased use of the Internet has been reported to be related to higher levels of loneliness and depression (Amichai-Hamburger & Ben-Artzi, 2003; Moody, 2001; Ybarra, Alexander, & Mitchell, 2005). Moreover, Kraut et al. (1998) found that Internet use was associated with small but significant declines in both well-being and the size of the adolescents' social circle over a period of 2 years. In comparison to Internet use, the relation of playing computer games to social development, at least in the short term, has been better documented. Moderate computer game use does not appear to be negatively related to children's social relationships. Indeed, some game playing has been associated with positive social interactions in families and with friends (e.g., Colwell, Grady, & Rhaiti, 1995; Mitchell, 1985). Repeated playing of violent computer games, however, has been related to increased aggressive and delinquent behavior (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Anderson & Dill, 2000; Zillman & Weaver, 1999), and there is speculation that continued playing of violent computer games may desensitize participants to violence, similar to the effects found with television (Drabman & Thomas, 1974; Subrahmanyam et al., 2000). The relation of technology use to healthy development, therefore, appears to vary according to the frequency of the activity, although more research is needed to better understand that link. There are other lines of evidence which further support this hypothesis such as research on the relationship between performance on such games and various cognitive variables. The major work in the area concludes that computer game play increases choice reaction time performance, spatial skills, scientific problem solving skills, and intelligence (Greenfield & Cocking, 1996). Henderson (2005) has summarized subsequent research into the cognitive advantages of computer game play and lists these as having been demonstrated: Spatial relations ability; spatial visualization; perceptual speed; scientific problem solving skills; intelligence; ability to reason inductively and deductively; ability to reason metacognitively; and reflective decision making. An elemental aspect of consciousness is attention. Green and Baveller (2003) found that habitual electronic game players experience improved visual attention. Visual attention needs to be divided in order to play video games, and Subrahmanyam, Greenfield, Kraut, and Gross (2001) reported that skilled computer game players had “better developed attentional skills than less skilled players” (p. 15). Maynard, Subrahmanyam, and Greenfield (2005) reviewed the attention and computer game play literature. They found that experimental manipulations with attention as the dependent variable resulted in improved attention among those assigned to the computer game playing condition. But the type of game can affect the outcome. One study finding was that a battle game was better at improving attention than Tetris, a puzzle game. Another variable related to consciousness development is psychological absorption. Psychological absorption in gaming has been examined by Glicksohn and Avnon (1997), who found that some of their subjects reported experiences during computer game play indicative of altered states of consciousness (e.g., drifting, flying, or changes in visual or auditory perception). These subjects also showed significant increases in absorption associated with computer game play relative to subjects who did not report such consciousness alterations during computer game play. Furthermore, Wood, Griffiths, Chappell, and Davies (2004) found that rapid absorption into games was rated as highly important by gamers. Preston (1998) reviewed the research on absorption and VR immersion, which is most commonly, experienced in computer game play, concluding that those that score high on psychological absorption: evaluate information in a distinct way that links it to self. This strongly implies that, regarding vision, audition, touch and balance, information to more modalities increases absorption. Multimodal stimulation creates a greater sense of presence in immersive VR. Immersive VR has the potential to offer low absorbers access to altered states of consciousness like those which high absorbers experience and also has the potential to offer to us all access to a higher level of consciousness. (p. 285) Other elements of consciousness have been reported as a result of computer game play. For instance, Voiskounsky, Mitina, and Avetisova (2004), Chou and Ting (2003), and Choi and Kim (2004) note a relationship between computer game play and the experience of “flow” as conceptualized by Csikszentmihalyi (1990), which in turn can be conceptualized as related to psychological absorption. Chou and Ting (2003) examined self reports of flow on a scale they developed. Using the same scale, Gackenbach and Reiter (2005) found in preliminary analysis that frequent game players reported more flow experiences while playing video games than infrequent players. PREVIOUS RESEARCH INTO COMPUTER GAME PLAY Despite the immense popularity of video games, there has been very little research examining the effects of computer game play on dreams. Players of the puzzle type game called Tetris reported intrusive, stereotypical, visual images of the game at sleep onset (Stickgold, Malia, Maguire, Roddenberry, & O'Connor, 2000), and psychiatrists Bertolini and Nissim (2002) recognize fragments or characters from the video games in the material of children's dreams. They concluded that because of this radical change in children's play patterns they must now incorporate video games into their child therapy practice. Relevant to the current inquiry is earlier work by Gackenbach and Preston (1998) and Preston and Nery (personal communication, October 25, 2004) on the exact question of this study regarding the relationship between computer game play and the development of consciousness as expressed in lucid dreaming frequency, among other things. These two research studies will be discussed in more detail. In a convenience sampling technique, Gackenbach and Preston (1998) posted a questionnaire to various usenet groups primarily focusing on computer game play and sent it to former students and colleagues. The questionnaire gathered information about video game habits and preferences and consciousness (including dreams) habits and experiences. Various factor analysis found some relationships between the indicates of consciousness (including lucid dreams) and the computer game playing questions. In some cases the factors showed a negative relationship (high computer game play and low consciousness development indices) between the two groups of variables while other factors showed a positive relationship (high computer game play and high consciousness development indices). The inconclusiveness of this study might have been an indication of the limits of the technology, three-dimensional play (i.e., therefore higher VR presence) had not been introduced, and that players may not have started as young or played as long as seems to be the case today. Some years later Preston and Nery (personal communication, October 25, 2004) examined several measures thought to be related to computer game play skill as well as several related to the development of consciousness. They found, as with the first study, several factors which loaded a combination of the computer game playing variables with the development of consciousness variables but again there were equivocal results. Subrahmanyam et al. (2001) point out that most studies on attention and other related cognitive variables measure short-term effects while few look at the long-term implications which is the focus of the present studies. They further note that, “Computer hardware and software evolve so quickly that most of the published research on the cognitive impact of game playing has been done with the older generation of arcade games and game systems” (p. 13). Thus, marginal affects with less sophisticated systems may show larger and more long-term effects as the apparatus improves. This caveat is important to note in reporting the relationship of computer game play to dream forms. VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES Of particular concern for the media are the effects of violent computer game play. As noted, there were no video game group differences in the playing violent video games category; however, as noted in the beginning of this results section, the high computer game players from online had fewer nightmares or night terrors than the other two groups despite playing the same number of violent video games. However, results on the other transpersonal variables, mystical experiences, and psychological absorption did not support the hypothesis. Specifically, the low computer game play group reported higher scores on the mystical scale, while there were no group differences on absorption. A couple of things need to be considered regarding these two scales. First, the higher scores on the mystical scale were indicative of less disagreement with the items, rather than agreement with the items regarding mystical experiences. It may be that the mystical scores would change were the items worded in terms of computer game play, as illustrated by this quote from a game player at the same school, “You almost zone out … Your mind just goes on autopilot and you just become one with the system … Sometimes, you can't believe the moves you're making” (McLean, 2005). Second, the absorption items were items culled from the same scale and were all rated higher than the mystical items. So despite the lack of group differences, these students were more favorably disposed to agree with items that tap psychological absorption and appear to not have the “mystical” overtones in the wording. CONCLUSION To conclude, although there does seem to be some relationship between selected transpersonal variables thought to be indicative of the development of consciousness (Hunt, 1995) and computer game play, the exact nature of this relationship remains to be teased out. It is perhaps as much of a mistake to lump puzzle game players in with first person shooter game players as it is to lump lucid dreams in with mystical experiences. Hunt (personal communication, June 13, 2005) has suggested that the emergence of these attributes thought important to the transpersonal perspective might all correlate at lower levels, but at the higher levels break out as separate skills, experiences, or states of being. This is shown in the figure given below. In summary, Internet use appears to differ in qualitative ways from computer gaming. Using the computer to access the Internet can include gaming, but adolescents may use the Internet predominantly for communication purposes and for accessing information, often for educational purposes (Gross, 2004; Madell & Muncer, 2004). As such, the Internet in particular appears to have the potential to have both positive and negative impacts on adolescent development. Although others have found a link between computer games and cognitive development (e.g., Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 1994), there was a trend for weaker academic orientation predicting gaming in the present study. Further work is needed to assess the situations in which computer gaming may be positively related to development. In fact, one area that should be pursued in future research is whether there is any benefit for adolescents who engage in multiplayer as opposed to single player computer games. This characteristic of computer game playing may be a particularly important factor when examining the link between gaming and social development. Overall, however, the results of the present study highlight the need to pay attention not only to the implications of excessive use of technology but also to nonuse. Only with further understanding of these issues can parents, educators, and policy makers maximize the positive impact of technology on adolescent development. Read More

Furthermore, computer games have been shown to enhance children's spatial performance skills and have been positively related to reading skills and academic performance (Nichols, 1992; Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 1994). Given the rapidly increasing prevalence of computer use among children and adolescents, more work is needed to determine the relation of technology use to cognitive development. In the past, there was concern that spending time playing computer games and using the Internet may lead to increasing levels of social isolation.

For example, Lanthier and Windham (2004) found that self-reported negative aspects of Internet use (e.g., negative thoughts, feelings, and experiences) were associated with poor college adjustment. Increased use of the Internet has been reported to be related to higher levels of loneliness and depression (Amichai-Hamburger & Ben-Artzi, 2003; Moody, 2001; Ybarra, Alexander, & Mitchell, 2005). Moreover, Kraut et al. (1998) found that Internet use was associated with small but significant declines in both well-being and the size of the adolescents' social circle over a period of 2 years.

In comparison to Internet use, the relation of playing computer games to social development, at least in the short term, has been better documented. Moderate computer game use does not appear to be negatively related to children's social relationships. Indeed, some game playing has been associated with positive social interactions in families and with friends (e.g., Colwell, Grady, & Rhaiti, 1995; Mitchell, 1985). Repeated playing of violent computer games, however, has been related to increased aggressive and delinquent behavior (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Anderson & Dill, 2000; Zillman & Weaver, 1999), and there is speculation that continued playing of violent computer games may desensitize participants to violence, similar to the effects found with television (Drabman & Thomas, 1974; Subrahmanyam et al., 2000). The relation of technology use to healthy development, therefore, appears to vary according to the frequency of the activity, although more research is needed to better understand that link.

There are other lines of evidence which further support this hypothesis such as research on the relationship between performance on such games and various cognitive variables. The major work in the area concludes that computer game play increases choice reaction time performance, spatial skills, scientific problem solving skills, and intelligence (Greenfield & Cocking, 1996). Henderson (2005) has summarized subsequent research into the cognitive advantages of computer game play and lists these as having been demonstrated: Spatial relations ability; spatial visualization; perceptual speed; scientific problem solving skills; intelligence; ability to reason inductively and deductively; ability to reason metacognitively; and reflective decision making.

An elemental aspect of consciousness is attention. Green and Baveller (2003) found that habitual electronic game players experience improved visual attention. Visual attention needs to be divided in order to play video games, and Subrahmanyam, Greenfield, Kraut, and Gross (2001) reported that skilled computer game players had “better developed attentional skills than less skilled players” (p. 15). Maynard, Subrahmanyam, and Greenfield (2005) reviewed the attention and computer game play literature.

They found that experimental manipulations with attention as the dependent variable resulted in improved attention among those assigned to the computer game playing condition. But the type of game can affect the outcome. One study finding was that a battle game was better at improving attention than Tetris, a puzzle game. Another variable related to consciousness development is psychological absorption. Psychological absorption in gaming has been examined by Glicksohn and Avnon (1997), who found that some of their subjects reported experiences during computer game play indicative of altered states of consciousness (e.g.

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