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According to a new study, video games – whatever their type – do not affect the cognitive performance of toddlers.
Since they were young, have you bathed your children with books, lest they succumb to the dangers of consoles? Big mistake. According to a study published in the Journal of Media Psychologygames in front of screens would not be as harmful as they seem.
Neither the duration nor the choice of game has an impact on the students’ brains
To test this theory, the researchers looked at the (video) gaming habits of 160 preteens from urban public schools, mostly from low-income households.
While the majority said they played it an average of 2.5 hours a day, the biggest players spent up to 4.5 hours a day.
The scientists then looked for a link between video gaming and students’ performance on the Standardized Cognitive Ability Test 7 (CogAT), with the aim of assessing candidates’ verbal, quantitative and non-verbal/spatial skills.
Result ? Generally, “neither playing time nor choice of video game genres had significant correlations with CogAT measures. This result therefore shows no direct link between video games and cognitive performance, despite what had been assumed.“, points out May Jadalla, professor at the School of Teaching and Learning at Illinois State University and principal investigator of the study.
Another interesting finding of the study: certain types of games supposed to help children develop their cognitive skills “showed no measurable effect“.
“The current study found results that are consistent with previous research showing that types of play that appear to increase cognitive function in young adults do not have the same impact in much younger children.“, said C. Shawn Green, professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In conclusion, scientists advise parents not to “not worry as much about cognitive setbacks in video game-loving kids“and just allow”a reasonable length of time“” game.
They must also keep a watchful eye on potential obsessive behavior in children.