1 in 10 Young Gamers Addicted, Says New Study

While Douglas A. Gentile’s latest research on the affects of violent video games on children may help him sell more books (Media Violence and Children: A Complete Guide for Parents and Professionals, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy and Media Violence and Children: A Complete Guide for Parents and Professionals), it’s tough to believe the data when experts in the field around the country disagree with the findings. The latest research, based on a nationwide survey 0f 1,178 U.S. children and teens (aged 8 to 18) found that 1 in 10 of respondents were addicted to video games.

Here’s the data from the sample: The surveys were conducted in January 2007 by Harris Interactive and involved around 100 children at each age ( 8 years old to 18 years old) represented in the sample. Using an online questionnaire, the survey asked questions about video game usage, lying about video game usage to friends and family, a decline in grades and studying, anti-social behavior like fighting at school, etc. The survey also diagnosed which percentage of children had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder or ADD, though how it gleaned this information is not explained at length. Gentile adapted this criteria used to diagnose pathological gambling in adults. Gamers were classified as “pathological” if they exhibited a minimum of six out of 11 criteria.

Those that were identified as “pathological gamers” apparently played more frequently and for more time, received worse grades in school and were more likely to report having trouble paying attention in school versus those non-pathological players. More health problems like hand and wrist pain was reported within the group as well. Pathological gamers were also twice as like to have been diagnosed with ADD - 25 percent versus non-pathological gamers.

The survey results and Gentile’s conclusions appear in the May edition of Psychological Science.

Other psychologists around the country see this study as flawed for a number of reasons: Cheryl K. Olson, co-director and co-founder of the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston thinks that adapting an adult survey about gambling for use with children is problematic:

“It’s one thing for a child to fib to his mom about how long he’s played a video game,” Olson said. “It’s another thing to lie to your wife about gambling.”

She also questioned whether kids as young as 8 can accurately complete a self-administered questionnaire.

Dr. Michael Brody, a psychiatrist in private practice in Potomac, Md., and chairman of the media committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, thinks an addiction to anything in children is usually a sign or symptom of other issues:

“What you usually find with these kids is this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dr. Michael Brody. “Underneath you usually find a lot of depression and anxiety. To put a label like ‘video game addiction’ is too superficial.”

But my biggest problem with this research is simple: Gentile is going into this research with his mind already made up and he’s entrenched in an organization that believes something that has yet to be proven. I don’t want to say that this is his bread and butter, but it’s true: he runs a media research lab at Iowa State that focuses almost exclusively on how various types of media are bad for children; he’s written several books on the topic - including some that may be used to teach future psychologists that media is bad (without any solid evidence) and is director of research for the National Institute on Media and the Family in Minneapolis.

You can certainly do research with preconceived notions about the end result, but you cannot shape those results based on those notions when the data is inconclusive. For example, if 25 percent of respondents are diagnosed with ADD, wouldn’t problems with paying attention in class, falling grades and an infatuation with video games be symptoms of that, as opposed to an addiction?

I am all for an honest study that provides conclusive evidence either way, conducted by someone who is doing actual research instead of cherry picking results to prove something.

The Influence of Games in Real Life

Do the games we play condition us to engage in certain types of behavior in the real world? A neuroscientist at Cambridge University, armed with an interesting study, says yes. A study conducted by Paul Fletcher found that by using a combination of video games and drinks to enforce positive and negative feedback, participants could be trained to react a a certain way to negative imagery.

The study used a simple cycling game and two drinks (one sweet, one salty) to train participants to favor one team’s jersey and avoid another’s. If cyclists from the same team (wearing the same jersey design) passed by, participants received a slurp of juice - but if a cyclist from the rival team passed the participant, he or she got a swig of a salty drink. Three days later, the subjects subconsciously avoided the same jersey in a real-world test.

“I don’t think this is evidence that video games are bad,” says Fletcher. “We just need to be aware that associations formed within the game transfer to the real world – for good or bad.”

But many scientists agree that the drinks probably weren’t need; many video games have the power to condition players to favor or dislike certain imagery. Deborah Talmi, a neuroscientist at University College London, thinks those connections could have been formed without their help.

“Many virtual things activate very real representations in the brain,” she says. “For instance, online donations to charities activate the same reward centre – the nucleus accumbens – that is activated to food reward in rats.“

Study: TV Shunned For Other Media

A new research report released this week reveals that 14 to 25 year olds watch less television, instead spending more time on online activities, watching DVDs and video games. The study, “The State of the Media Democracy,” was conducted by Deloitte and polled multiple age groups including 14- to 25-year-olds (Millennials), Generation X (ages 26-42), Baby Boomers (43-61) and Matures (62-75).

Millennials watched just 10.5 hours of TV a week, compared to 15.1 hours for those indentified in the Generation-X group. Baby Boomers watched 19.2 hours, while the old folks in the Matures group watched 21.5 hours a week. So what are Millennials doing with their time? Shunning cable TV to partake in other activities. Among those activities - playing video games, listening to music and surfing the Internet.

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Games Boost Mental Skills in Seniors, Says Research

A recent study conducted by University of Illinois psychology professor Arthur Kramer found that playing Rise of Nations helped adults age 60 - 70 with cognitive skills such as task switching, memory retention and reasoning skills. The study tested two groups age 60 to 70. One group played around 23 and half hours of Rise of Nations, while the other group didn’t. Both groups were then tested in a variety of ways to test their mental acumen.

The group that played the game scored higher than those that did not in a number of areas, particularly in activities with an entire group. The results also showed that the gamer group short-term visual memory, object identification, faster task switching abilities, improved working memory and reasoning ability.

While this research is only the tip of the iceberg, it is good to hear that some researchers are using games in a constructive way, as opposed to scapegoating them for ill behavior that has yet to be successfully proven in any study of merit. It would be interesting to see how the data would be different in other age groups.

Source: www.seriousgamessource.com

ELSPA Study: Brain Training Trains Brains

ELSPA, the trade organization dedicated to the video game industry in the United Kingdom, announced the results of a study that we already know: Brain Training Games train your brain. Wow. In case you didn’t believe that games like Nintendo’s Brain Training series didn’t work, ELSAP has some proof for you.

Learning and Teaching Scotland has issued the results of a study of over 600 students in 32 schools. That study found that the game improved students’ mathematical ability, concentration and behavior levels. These results were revealed today during The Scottish Learning Festival.

And in other news, ELSPA announced that they are headquartered in the United Kingdom.

NPD: Girls Like Games

A new study by the NPD Group entitled “Girl Power: Understanding This Important Consumer Segment,” reveals that girls 2 - 14 years of age are spending more times playing games. This data is a no-brainer given the push by companies like Ubisoft to tap into the girl gamer market. This in and of itself is sad, because Ubisoft and other companies now catering to this demographic should really focus on creating games for age groups rather than pandering to gender.  Kids need more games like Drawn To Life and fewer games based on franchises like Bratz and Barbie. Of course, that’s just my opinion and I could be wrong.

According to NPD industry analyst, Anita Frazier, 50 percent of girls ages 2 - 14 years old still play with traditional gender-focused toys like dolls, arts and crafts and stuffed animals. The study also finds that the increase in the use of virtual worlds and social networking sites are not being properly monetized by publishers.