Playing video games on a regular basis may improve the creativity of children.
This is according to new research into the long-term effects of video game usage, which shows violent games are as beneficial as their non-violent counterparts in boosting kids’ creativity.
In fact, video games might surpass the claims of many superfoods when this is coupled with evidence that games can improve eyesight, brain power and driving skills, and may even strengthen familial bonds.
A study from Michigan State University (MSU) has analysed the expressiveness of stories and drawings by 491 12-year-old boys and girls. The researchers then correlated this creativity measurement with the amount of time each child spent playing video games. They found strong links between the playing of video games and increased creativity, as measured by the Torrence Test of creative thinking.
Increased creativity was seen regardless of the child’s gender, race or even the genre of game being played. Boys preferentially favoured violence-based or sports games whilst their female counterparts chose more interactive gaming.
Importantly, the study links gaming and creativity, but doesn’t establish a causal relationship. So it may be that creative kids just play more video games.
Still, professor Linda Jackson, head of the research project, hopes that the finding will prompt further investigation into how games can foster creativity.
“Video games can be designed to optimise the development of creativity while retaining their entertainment values such that a new generation of video games will blur the distinction between education and entertainment,” explained Professor Jackson.
However, teenagers won’t be celebrating just yet as the study also indicated that internet and mobile phone use seem to have no impact on creativity.
Gaming toward better health
Playing video games has, in previous research, been shown to have other benefits as well.
For instance, evidence that computer games can improve eyesight goes back to studies from as early as 2003, with more recent research looking into its benefits for people with amblyopia (lazy eye).
Daphne Bevalier and her team at the University of Rochester, New York, have incorporated traditional exercises for amblyopia treatment into a custom version of the first-person shooter game Unreal Tournament.
Games can also be used for learning real-world skills. The U.S. Army, in 2002, released a game for recruits “designed to provide a profile of a soldier’s occupational abilities.” Various groups like the Education Arcade, sponsored by MIT, are trying to bring video games into the classroom.
A 2011 study found that 10-hour stints of gaming increased mental focus of gamers. And finally, research from the Brigham Young University’s School of Family Life suggests that daughters can strengthen their family ties by playing video games with parents. (Strangely, the effects are not seen in boys who game with a parent.)
We are encouraged to eat five portions of fruit and veg each day ‘as part of a balanced lifestyle’ but, it increasingly seems, this balanced lifestyle may also need to include some time in front of games consoles.
Image used courtesy of commorancy