Researchers gathering in Boston for a meeting of the American Psychological Association, have collected yet more evidence that games are good for us, and not - as it has often been reported - the source of all evil, pain and conflict in the modern world. In a CNN story posted today, it is revealed that the best surgeons are the ones who play most games. From the report:
Studies by Iowa State University psychologist Douglas Gentile and Dr. James Rosser, head of minimally invasive surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, compared surgeons who play video games to those who don't.
The edge went to gamer surgeons, they found, even after taking into account differences in age, years of medical training and the number of laparoscopic surgeries performed. In laparoscopic procedures, surgeons use small incisions, thin surgical tools and video cameras to see inside the body.
One study of 33 laparoscopic surgeons found that those who played video games were 27 percent faster at advanced surgical procedures and made 37 percent fewer errors than those who didn't.
But that's only part of the story. It seems that just talking about games can have a positive effect:
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison looked at a random sample of 2,000 chat room posts about "World of Warcraft" to see what the players were discussing. The game is set in a fantasy world where players hunt, gather and battle to move their characters to higher levels. Players who work together succeed faster.
The research found the game encouraged scientific thinking, like using systems and models for understanding situations and using math and testing to investigate problems.
The vast majority of the discussion participants, 86 percent, shared knowledge to solve problems and more than half, 58 percent, used systematic and evaluative processes, researchers found.
Now for the bad news:
Other studies confirmed earlier research that found students who played violent games tended to be more hostile, less forgiving and believed violence to be normal compared to those who played nonviolent games. And those who played more entertainment games did poorer in school and were are greater risk of obesity.
Tellingly, these are the vaguest findings reported. Of course, this could be more about the news story itself, but it could also be that those looking into the negative effects of games are forced into drawing wider, less specific conclusions.
Anyway, I wonder if Chatterbox contributes to the development of scientific thinking? I've certainly learned a lot more about zombie warfare than I ever expected.
