The benefits of playing video games.

In the paper

“It is important to stress that enhanced cognitive performance is not documented for all video game genres.”

In the paper

“Indeed, problem solving seems central to all genres of video games (including those with violent content).”

In the paper

“New evidence is emerging that playing any kind of video game, regardless of whether or not it is violent, enhances children's creative capacities.”

In the paper

“Further, this recent meta-analysis showed that spatial skills can be trained with video games in a relatively brief period, that these training benefits last over an extended period of time, and crucially, that these skills transfer to other spatial tasks outside the video game context.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Uttal et al., 2013

In the paper

“Moreover, it is virtually impossible to choose an appropriate control condition wherein all aspects of a game (e.g., visual stimulation, arousal induction, gameplay) are kept constant across conditions and only one cognitive challenge is manipulated (e.g., navigating three-dimensional space efficiently vs. inhibiting prepotent responses).”

In the paper

“For example, among a sample of almost 500 12-year-old students, video game playing was positively associated with creativity (Jackson et al., 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Jackson et al., 2012

In the paper

“Preliminary research has also demonstrated that these cognitive advantages manifest in measurable changes in neural processing and efficiency.”

In the paper

“A small but significant body of research has begun to emerge, mostly in the last five years, documenting these benefits.”

In the paper

“However, this study's cross-sectional design made it unclear whether playing video games develops creative skills or creative people prefer video games (or both).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Jackson et al., 2012

In the paper

“Further, these experiences may have the potential to enhance mental health and well-being in children and adolescents.”

In the paper

“Indeed, the vast majority of psychological research on the effects of 'gaming' has been focused on its negative impact: the potential harm related to aggression, addiction, and depression (e.g., Anderson et al., 2010; Ferguson, 2013; Lemola et al., 2011).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Anderson et al., 2010
• Not checked yetcites Ferguson, 2013
• Not checked yetcites Lemola et al., 2011

In the paper

“Contrary to conventional beliefs that playing video games is intellectually lazy and sedating, it turns out that playing these games promotes a wide range of cognitive skills.”

In the paper

“Experimental laboratory studies indicate that play fighting results in the release of chemical growth factors in the parts of the brain that are coordinated for highly social activities (e.g., the orbital frontal cortex), thus promoting the growth and development of these areas.”

In the paper

“Further, this recent meta-analysis showed that spatial skills can be trained with video games in a relatively brief period, that these training benefits last over an extended period of time, and crucially, that these skills transfer to other spatial tasks outside the video game context.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Uttal et al., 2013

In the paper

“This is particularly true for shooter video games (often called 'action' games by researchers), many of which are violent in nature (e.g., Halo 4, Grand Theft Auto IV ).”

In the paper

“Critically, children's use of other forms of technology (e.g., computer, Internet, cell phone) did not relate to enhanced creativity.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Jackson et al., 2012

In the paper

“A recently published meta-analysis (Uttal et al., 2013) concluded that the spatial skills improvements derived from playing commercially available shooter video games are comparable to the effects of formal (high school and university-level) courses aimed at enhancing these same skills.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Uttal et al., 2013

In the paper

“Considering these potential benefits is important, in part, because the nature of these games has changed dramatically in the last decade, becoming increasingly complex, diverse, realistic and social in nature (Ferguson & Olson, 2013).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ferguson & Olson, 2013

In the paper

“The same positive predictive association was not found for fast-paced games such as racing and fi ghting games.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Adachi & Willoughby, 2013

In the paper

“For example, in his qualitative research on children's play conversations, Gottman (1986) showed how children use play for emotional mastery in their real lives.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gottman, 1986

In the paper

“Further, this recent meta-analysis showed that spatial skills can be trained with video games in a relatively brief period, that these training benefits last over an extended period of time, and crucially, that these skills transfer to other spatial tasks outside the video game context.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Uttal et al., 2013

In the paper

“We propose that, taken together, these findings suggest that video games provide youth with immersive and compelling social, cognitive, and emotional experiences.”

In the paper

“For example, a recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study found that the mechanisms that control attention allocation (e.g., the fronto-parietal network) were less active during a challenging pattern-detection task in regular gamers than in nongamers, leading the researchers to suggest that shooter game players allocate their attentional resources more efficiently and filter out Irr”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bavelier et al., 2012

In the paper

“Perhaps the biggest difference in the characteristics of video games today, compared to their predecessors of 10 to 20 years ago, is their pervasive social nature.”

In the paper

“playing violent video games socially (in groups) reduces feelings of hostility compared with playing alone (Eastin, 2007)”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Eastin, 2007

In the paper

“Gaming may be among the most efficient and effective means by which children and youth generate positive feelings.”

In the paper

“Players seem to acquire important prosocial skills when they play games that are specifically designed to reward effective cooperation, support, and helping behaviors (Ewoldsen et al., 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ewoldsen et al., 2012

In the paper

“One study that summarized international evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies found that playing prosocial video games consistently related to, or predicted, prosocial behaviors (Gentile et al., 2009).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gentile et al., 2009

In the paper

“Children who are praised for their traits rather than their efforts (e.g., 'Wow, you're such a smart boy') develop an entity theory of intelligence, which maintains that intelligence is an innate trait, something that is fixed and cannot be improved.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Dweck & Molden, 2005

In the paper

“The critical dimension that seems to determine whether violent games are associated with helping, prosocial behavior versus malevolent, antisocial behavior is the extent to which they are played cooperatively versus competitively.”

In the paper

“Games continuously provide novel challenges, demanding players to shift already established appraisals to new ones in order to most efficiently reach goals.”

In the paper

“But compelling work is just emerging that seems to refute this simple interpretation, suggesting that violent games are just as likely to promote prosocial behavior.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ferguson & Garza, 2011

In the paper

“The development of a persistent motivational style charged with positive affect may, in turn, lead to lasting educational success (Ventura et al., 2013).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ventura et al., 2013

In the paper

“Simple up-regulation of positive emotions is one emotionregulation strategy that has been linked to beneficial outcomes (e.g., Fredrickson, 2001), but there may be additional emotion-regulation benefits of playing video games.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Fredrickson, 2001

In the paper

“Based on the uses and gratifications theory, one of the oldest and most well-validated theories in communications research (Ruggiero, 2000), among the top reasons individuals cite for using diverse forms of media are to manage their moods and to enhance their emotional states.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ruggiero, 2000

In the paper

“children who played more prosocial games at the beginning of the school year were more likely to exhibit helpful behaviors later that year”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gentile et al., 2009

In the paper

“At the end of a three-week competition in 2010, top-scoring players had generated phase estimates that allowed researchers to identify a rapid solution of the crystal structure for a monkey virus related to AIDS.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Cooper et al., 2010

In the paper

“In contrast, less adaptive strategies, such as rumination (Aldao et al., 2010), are less likely to be rewarded by video games because they impede players from reacting quickly and flexibly to constantly changing, often frustrating, challenges.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Aldao et al., 2010

In the paper

“recently published experimental studies (Tear & Nielsen, 2013) suggest that even the most violent video games on the market ( Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty ) fail to diminish subsequent prosocial behavior.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Tear & Nielsen, 2013

In the paper

“Over 70% of gamers play their games with a friend, either cooperatively or competitively (Entertainment Software Association, 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Entertainment Software Association, 2012

In the paper

“Two recent studies have also shown that playing a violent video game cooperatively, compared with competitively, increases subsequent prosocial, cooperative behavior outside of the game context (Ewoldsen et al., 2012)”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ewoldsen et al., 2012

In the paper

“Contrary to stereotypes, the average gamer is not a socially isolated, inept nerd who spends most of his (or her) time alone loafing on the couch (Lenhart et al., 2008).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lenhart et al., 2008

In the paper

“In contrast, children who are praised for their effort (e.g., 'You worked so hard on that puzzle!') develop an incremental theory of intelligence; they believe intelligence is malleable, something that can be cultivated through effort and time.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Dweck & Molden, 2005

In the paper

“Likewise, violent video games played cooperatively seem to decrease players' access to aggressive cognitions (Schmierbach, 2010; Velez, Mahood, Ewoldsen, & Moyer-Gusé, 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Schmierbach, 2010
• Not checked yetcites Velez, Mahood, Ewoldsen, & Moyer-Gusé, 2012

In the paper

“In summary, although playing games is often considered a frivolous pastime, gaming environments may actually cultivate a persistent, optimistic motivational style.”

In the paper

“Ventura and colleagues (2013) used an anagram-riddle task and demonstrated that the extent of video game use predicted how long participants would (outside of a gaming context) persistently attempt to solve difficult anagrams.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ventura et al., 2013

In the paper

“These same adaptive regulation strategies seem to be rewarded in gaming contexts because their use is concretely and clearly linked to goal achievement.”

In the paper

“playing prosocial games led to causal, short-term effects on 'helping' behaviors”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gentile et al., 2009

In the paper

“We propose that video games are an ideal training ground for acquiring an incremental theory of intelligence because they provide players concrete, immediate feedback regarding specific efforts players have made.”

In the paper

“can even overcome the effects of outgroup membership status (making players more cooperative with outgroup members than if they had played competitively; Velez et al., 2012)”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Velez et al., 2012

In the paper

“players who play violent games that encourage cooperative play are more likely to exhibit helpful gaming behaviors online and offline than those who play nonviolent games (Ferguson & Garza, 2011)”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ferguson & Garza, 2011

In the paper

“If playing games simply makes people happier, this seems to be a fundamental emotional benefit to consider.”

In the paper

“As behaviorists have documented for decades (e.g., S. B. Kendall, 1974), the kinds of intermittent reinforcement schedules that are doled out to video game players are the most effective for 'training' new behaviors.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites S. B. Kendall, 1974

In the paper

“A video game that can impart this same knowledge but use elements of play and game mechanics that have proven immensely engaging may help to address this barrier.”

In the paper

“Despite optimistic conclusions about the effectiveness of cognitivebehavioral therapy (CBT), overarching limitations have also been pointed out (see Kazdin, 2011, for a review).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kazdin, 2011

In the paper

“As a result, it is still unknown how much more effective these games are in changing behavioral and health outcomes than are conventional approaches.”

In the paper

“The first limitation of a number of evidence-based approaches, particularly those oriented around CBT principles, is that they largely rely on imparting psychoeducational information, usually in some didactic style (albeit with efforts to make these lessons interactive).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites P. C. Kendall, 2011

In the paper

“Although studies that track multiplayer social interactions on- and offline are vastly more complex than studies focusing on single-player experiences, they are also far more ecologically valid given that these are the games in which youth are increasingly immersed.”

In the paper

“these dynamic features mean that there is a certain element of uniqueness to each player's experience, each time she or he plays even the very same game.”

In the paper

“the majority of studies on video games (on both the negative and positive effects) continue to depend on survey assessments.”

In the paper

“these meta-analyses, which dealt with almost the same data pool, reached very different conclusions.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Anderson et al., 2010
• Not checked yetcites Ferguson, 2007

In the paper

“Many people, often those most in need of care, have a difficult time accessing treatment programs because they either live in hard-to-reach rural locations, work or go to school during treatment hours, or are physically or psychologically unable to commute.”

In the paper

“Players are drawn toward different types of games based on individual differences on a variety of factors including personality differences, their own needs assessments, their mood, and so on (e.g., Tamborini, Bowman, Eden, Grizzard, & Organ, 2010).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Tamborini, Bowman, Eden, Grizzard, & Organ, 2010

In the paper

“Games are simply cheaper, given that they have no costs associated with therapists' time and training, renting facilities, and so on.”

In the paper

“games for health and education often end up with the 'chocolate-covered broccoli' problem-the games look great, they are good for you, but they ultimately fail to work because the creative game dynamics that induce transportation and immersion are missing, making them simply not fun.”

In the paper

“The vast majority of evidencebased interventions in this field are based on cognitivebehavioral principles (see P. C. Kendall, 2011).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites P. C. Kendall, 2011

In the paper

“Engaging children and youth is one of the most challenging tasks faced by clinicians (Crenshaw, 2008).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Crenshaw, 2008

In the paper

“A third challenge faced by many intervention programs is access to care.”

In the paper

“the vast majority of previous work has examined children's and adolescents' experiences with singleplayer games”

In the paper

“one large-scale, representative U.S. study (Lenhart et al., 2008) showed that adolescents who played games with civic experiences (e.g., Guild Wars 2 , an MMORPG, or massive multiplayer online role-playing game) were more likely to be engaged in social and civic movements in their everyday lives”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lenhart et al., 2008

In the paper

“Although self-report and retrospective assessments are useful, relying exclusively on these data limits our understanding.”

In the paper

“more than 70% of individuals play games socially, online or in person, with friends and acquaintances (Entertainment Software Association, 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Entertainment Software Association, 2012

In the paper

“Unfortunately, as is the case with most survey studies in the field, this study did not differentiate the causal direction of effects.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lenhart et al., 2008

In the paper

“children and adolescents, especially those who do not recognize that they have a mental health problem or are not motivated to change, often find these lessons boring.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Crenshaw, 2008

In the paper

“Perhaps the most celebrated success story of a game that had a significant impact on health-related behaviors is the case of Re-Mission (Kato, Cole, Bradlyn, & Pollock, 2008), a video game designed for child cancer patients.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kato, Cole, Bradlyn, & Pollock, 2008

In the paper

“The medical field has picked up on these positive effects and become increasingly interested in 'gamifying' medical interventions (Ritterfeld, Cody, & Vorderer, 2009)”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ritterfeld, Cody, & Vorderer, 2009

In the paper

“Researchers and practitioners alike in the medical field have begun to harness the power of video games to motivate patients and, ultimately, to improve their health outcomes (for a review, see Kato, 2010).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kato, 2010

In the paper

“A second, related barrier to the majority of CBT approaches is that these programs do an adequate job of imparting new knowledge, but they leave a large gap between what youth actually know and what they do in their everyday lives.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites P. C. Kendall, 2011

In the paper

“The games people choose to play, in turn, exert diverse influences on players' motivations, emotional states, and social interactions.”

In the paper

“there is strong evidence for the effectiveness of particular qualities of conventional intervention approaches that are difficult to incorporate in a game, including the healing effects of a strong therapeutic alliance (e.g., J. Green, 2006) and the benefits of experiencing emotional and social support in group-based interventions (e.g., Fine, Forth, Gilbert, & Haley, 1991).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites J. Green, 2006
• Not checked yetcites Fine, Forth, Gilbert, & Haley, 1991

In the paper

“a fantasy role-playing game based on CBT for depression was recently developed ( SPARX ) to explicitly increase engagement, and a randomized controlled trial showed it to be as effective in treating depression as a therapist-administered CBT program (Merry et al., 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Merry et al., 2012

In the paper

“Developing therapeutic video games can address this gap because they engage players in immersive emotional experiences (eliciting a range of emotions) and provide opportunities to practice new regulatory skills until they are automatized, canalizing new neural patterns that can lead to generalization outside the game.”

In the paper

“Adolescents, minority youth, and the elderly are particularly likely to face these challenges.”

In the paper

“Games designed for mental health interventions can reach these populations because they can be delivered to wherever clients reside, with little cost and effort.”