We've all heard that bad news about videogames, but a recent study shows that video games aren't all bad after all. According to one recent study, playing video games appear to "help surgeons with skills that truly count: how well they operate using a precise technique" (Stern, 2007).
"There was a strong correlation between video game skills and a surgeon's capabilities performing laparoscopic surgery in the study published in the February issue of Archives of Surgery.
Laparoscopy and related surgeries involve manipulating instruments through a small incision or body opening where the surgeon's movements are guided by watching a television screen.
Video game skills translated into higher scores on a day-and-half-long surgical skills test, and the correlation was much higher than the surgeon's length of training or prior experience in laparoscopic surgery, the study said."
According to this study, the "nine doctors who had at some point played video games at least three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons who had never played video games before (Stern, 2007)."
Not too shabby, eh? But wait!
"A 2004 survey by Gentile found 94 percent of U.S. adolescents play video games for an average of nine hours a week. Game-playing has been linked to aggressiveness, poor school grades and can become a substitute for exercise."
I guess we're back at square one... unless, of course, one plans to become a surgeon! At which point, one has the green light to play away (so long as that is no more than three hours a week). How bizarre.
References:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070219/tc_nm/surgery_games_dc
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Man. I might have to look into becoming a surgeon. But three hours a week? I'm not sure if it's worth it.
Haha, good to hear some positive press about it, though.
As a matter of fact it does help to play video games if you think about it. How many computer screens do poeple have to work with now a days?? Way too many if you ask me!! And what is a video game? A bunch of different screens that come together for a specific purpose also if you play rpgs (role playing games) they tend to have a high pace of the game making you think faster and react to different types of situations. meaning that if you continue on this path the more you play the faster the reflexes hance the more you are prepared to deal with the stress in the workplace of being rushed.