Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Brain and Learning – University of Geneva
Video games as exemplary tools
From chatting on the internet to playing video games, technology has invaded all aspects of our lives. For better or for worse, it is changing who we are. But can we harness technology to effect changes for the better? In the midst of reported negative effects, recent studies show that this might indeed be the case. In a surprising twist, an often-decried activity such as playing action video games enhances various sensory, attentional and cognitive skills. A training regimen whose benefits are so broad is unprecedented and provides a unique opportunity to identify factors that underlie generalization of learning and principles of brain plasticity. A set of common mechanisms are hypothesized to be at the source of this wide range of skill improvement. In particular, performance improvement following action video game play may be mediated through greater attentional control, better statistic inference in neural networks and in turn an enhanced ability at learning to learn. Practical applications from education to rehabilitation will be discussed.