Improving Cognitive Skills by Playing Video Games

Cognitive skills are very important in every individual’s development. It refers to one’s ability to gain meaning and knowledge from every experience and information that he is exposed to. But more than just acquiring the meaning and knowledge, an individual should be able to think, process, act out, and apply new information based on the previous ones he has learned.

Though video games have always been seen on a controversial light, there are some that are beneficial to a person’s cognitive development. Moving away from controversies such as deaths and video game addiction, we look into these as aids to developing an individual’s cognitive skills.

Fast-paced action games, Strategy, and First-person shooter games are just some genres that can actually help in developing the cognitive domain of an individual. These games are more than just the action, drama, graphics and effects. They have a lot to offer if only people are not too critical of them.

What exact cognitive skills are developed when playing video games?

– Creative Thinking: More than just creating a good-looking and powerful avatar or modifying the game environment to suit a players taste, creative thinking can be taken to the next level. Modding or modification of PC games is a known practice that allows a player to use his own imagination and skills. A modder can have the free hand to add new contents to the game, create an entirely different game within the game, and even create fixes for the game.

– Logical Thinking: More than just breaking codes or unlocking secrets in a particular level in a game, there are those that require a player to make his own calls, develop ufabet เว็บหลัก his own strategies, and execute his intelligent choices. A strategy game, for example, encourages players to formulate their own logical conclusions to succeed. A player can develop a more critical way of thinking as logic is presented in every mastery level.

– Pattern recognition through complex ideas: Pattern recognition is taught in as early as pre-school. But later on, as the mind develops and matures, ideas become more complex and profound and the learning experience also evolves and escalates. Pattern recognition is presented in games in a more complex manner which the player should be able to distinguish with enough practice and careful assessment. Games do not present patterns that can be distinguished by merely looking at it. It requires more than just looking but by carefully dissecting and constructing the pieces altogether.

– Expertise: The first stages of a video game will just give the basic know-hows. With constant playing and leveling up in the game, the player can develop expertise or mastery. The basic knowledge of the game is easily acquired but to become an expert requires being able to automatically and immediately perform a task within the game with minimum efforts on the player’s part.

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