Effect of Video Games on Brain Functions

Effect of Video Games on Brain FunctionsThe Immersion of the Human MindIn Video GamesStefan NikolovContents (Jump to) accostLiterature look backCurrent PerceptionsAbstractThis research paper was created with the intention of taking the reader on a guided journey towards intellectual how the serviceman mind functions at heart the practical(prenominal) world of video supports. It explores the interaction between the senses of the nervous system and the spicys artificial existence and attempts to establish a connection between an individuals originator capabilities and the demanding requirements of a games take aim environment and attempt to find a balanced kin between the two.The paper is based somewhat a research, conducted in ordinate to come up with approximate statistics about how the games world triggers brain sensors and how and how much the human consciousness responds according to the teaching input it receives.A racing track, named the Blackstone International Ci rcuit was created as a fouling piece of level design work. With the help of an external controller, a steering wheel with resistance and force feedback, fellow students, who took part in the research, were required to compete leash laps around the circuit. The track was also released on several online websites and that made possible the involvement of other anonymous individuals. After they had their turn, they were asked to complete a track questionnaire with questions related to their experience.The data of the questionnaire was later collected and analysed in order to establish a statistics database of how the separate senses take part when the human mind is engaged. The results revealed that the brains involvement was maximised and participants mat fully immersed inside the game environment. That on the wholeowed the collection of subconscious activity that was categorised to determine the type of game presence they had tactical, strategic or narrative.Findings also helped support the claim that a person with a strong co-ordination and reflex abilities, which are the main part of having a tactical game presence, would be called a easily gamer. The majority of participants in the survey belonged to the group of players that have tactical presence and had a precise similar approach.Throughout this paper, objective analysis and criticism, as hale as self-assessment and reliable sources were the foundation for building a valid and evident piece of academic writing.The paper concludes with suggested criteria for analysing the minds activity when playing a video game and getting clearly distinguished results about the type of people that play video games in todays world.Literature ReviewAt the beginning of each life experience, there is the perception of it. It is the initial start of the human minds interaction with the surrounding environment and in the end serves as the foundation, on which events put across and build up.In the Oxford dictionary, t he definition for the word perception is the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. The environment of existentity is consisted of an infinite number of information flows, which inevitably and constantly interact with the mind. If the filter of perception did not exist, there would be an extreme mental overload, as the measure of streaming actions would be too big to comprehend.Blake and Sekuler (2006) state that what is of import is that perception provide us with a useful view of the world, rather than fine and accurate one where useful means being able to interact safely and effectively within our environment. Perception acts like an information distributer to the mind, allowing save relevant data to reach the brain, while the unnecessary parts of the occurring event may even not make their way through.The two authors also rationalise that stimulation comes in various forms of physical energy thermal, mechanical, chemical, acoustic and elect romagnetic. As a consequence, the human brains ability to accept and process information is applied through the five senses sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Working together, they create a complete image of the surrounding environment, enabling us to co-ordinate and interact with at a level of full immersion.The word immersion originally meant to submerge someone or something in a liquid., however, since the invention of video games and entertainment media in general, the meaning has evolved significantly, as far as it affects the human mind. correspond to Wikipedia, immersion, in relation to a video game, can also mean a perception of being physically present in a non-physical world.The immersion in the video game world can be split into three different types tactical, strategic and narrative (Adams, 2005). The first two are easy to extend to, as they require problem solving tactical is the type that requires skill and repeat of actions on the way to success Strategic im mersion involves calculation and prediction to overcome obstacles. However, narrative immersion is hard to accomplish, as a lot of elements moldiness work together story, characters, setting, acting, presentation, to compile everything together in a successful emotional state.Rigby and Ryan (2010, p.84) explain how Authenticity is a key factor to the believability of an experience. It is what provides fusee for the extra step towards immersion, as people usually choose to keep their distance from things that they consider fake. Authenticity makes a product trustworthy and reliable, and helps the individual achieve the desired blending of the real (factual) and the imaginary (mental) world. According to the authors, each person has an individual set of requirements, called schema, which is applied to every experience in order to compare it to previous ones and determine if it can be classified as authentic.According to Madigan (2010), it is spatial presence that comes closest to wh at game players perceive as immersion. It is considered to exist when the elements of a game world are accepted as real, allowing one to submerge fully into a product of the imagination and smell like they are as much present in the scene, as they would be in reality.The process takes place over two be stages. At the First stage, a player is accepting the surrounding world, composed of a variety of objects, sounds and events, which help create a saturated mental model of the games virtual universe. The Second stage is engaging the mind on a subconscious level, where it feels part of a flawless reality and is fully immersed within the experience. It has the imagination filling in the imperfections of a certain part of a game level, for example, which were imposed by the limitations of the machine or the level of object detail.Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive research scientist, in a keynote presentation (2012) about the relationship between the human brain and playing fast-paced comput er games, suggested that doing so actually improved the brains capabilities. According to her teams research, people who often play action games tend to solve problems faster, perform remediate in multitasking and recognise and react to the surrounding environment more accurately and with greater precision than people who do not. That is due to the fact, that, when fully immersed inside the game world, the brain would have to process often times a lot more information than in a lot of real-life situations, which would essentially serve as training process and help the individual improve on problem solving. The results of that research were valid even months after it was conducted.A very cardinal, if not crucial factor for achieving a full immersive experience, when playing a game, is Realism. McMahan (2003) splits Realism of video games into two sub-divisional types Social and Perpetual. The first type suggests the comparison between social interactions within a games environment compared to the real world, but the Perpetual Realism is the level of visual resemblance of the objects in that environment to the ones in reality. or so fast-paced games in todays world offer the possibility of complete interaction of the mind and game world, due to the fact that computer artwork and processing of game data is becoming rapidly faster with each year that passes. Game genres like any modern First-Person Shooter (FPS) game, much(prenominal) as Call of Duty or Battlefield, require almost the same skill set for a proper playing experience. According to Gamer Institute (2014), the top skills of a professional player are Love of the Game, Unwavering dedication, Manual dexterity, Twitch reflexes, Strong multi-tasking, Analytical ability and Emotional Control.One of the most realistic genres of games in todays world is the Simulator. It considers factors, such as physics, lighting, shadows, shapes or events to create a world, which resembles reality as close as possible. Depending on the type of simulator, realitys properties can be utilise for a variety of purposes. Some games, such as Moon Tycoon (2001) tend to focus on events that cannot occur in the current state of the world we live in. Others, such as SimCity (2013), use reality to propose a virtual representation of events in a real-time game universe.A Racing Simulator is the type of game that would make a significant difference in how the mind can deal with reality. According to SAE (2014), the delay between events in the racing simulator can even cause motion sickness in drivers that is why it is unacceptable, as it can reduce effectiveness of driver-in-the-loop (DIL) systems used for studying vehicle dynamics. A game called rFactor Pro (2008) was developed to ensure the maximum of the virtual reality is extracted and a life-like experience is delivered to the drivers in order to get them fully engaged and prepared for a race. SAE also writes that, as of 22 Jan 2014, the game is current ly the dominant software in the simulator market, used in F1 and NASCAR teams to mentally prepare drivers.RFactor Pro is an upgraded version of rFactor, a racing simulator game, developed by Image Space Incorporated (ISI) and released in 2005. RFactor has a very large community and a rich and diverse database of game extensions, called otherwise Mods tracks, cars, menu interface images, sounds and miscellaneous add-ons, developed almost en run downly by third-party source, such as myself. The game itself has a very realistic physics engine that enables accurate simulation of life-like racing experiences tire and engine wear, fuel consumption, wind resistance, tire grip, etc. It engages the players in a believable environment (roads and racing tracks) to get them concentrated on the objective of racing against other cars or beating a time record.According to Angel Ever (2014), refuge is the biggest benefit of racing simulation. In virtual reality, there is no possibility for the r isk of real-life damage and danger. This removes the sham factor, while preserving all other fun factors that driving a fast car can provide. A player is not required to wear safety equipment, or have their car inspected at all times, in contrast to a racing driver. Moreover, real racing is a lot more expensive, compared to virtual one, as the cars integrity is reset at the beginning of each playing session. There is also the freedom to drive, regardless of the rules of the real world and experience axenic fun when doing so.On the other side, a research, conducted by Continental Tyre UK (2011), suggested that people who often play driving games tend to be poorer drivers in real life. According to results, gamers are likely to take more risks, speed and be susceptible to reckless driving more often than non-gamers. Around 16% of all the participants agreed that driving games would make someone perform better in real conditions, while 40% said that virtual experiences contribute to dangerous sort on the real roads.Current PerceptionsThe process of investigation is iterative and information is collected in a database for later evaluation. Since the method used in it does not change over time, that means that as the quantity of participants grows, the results accuracy grows as well.At the beginning of the project I already had a personal understanding of how a player interacts within the game world, based on my gaming experiences in the past. I wanted to examine the brains activity and how important it was for a player to have a complete image of the surrounding environment in order to extract the maximum of their performance. Several categories of interest were defined in order to achieve a guideline