Decades of research on the effects of media violence have examined associations between viewing aggressive material in the media and aggression and prosocial behavior. However, the existing ...longitudinal studies have tended to exclusively examine aggression and prosocial behavior as outcomes, with a limited range of potential mediators. The current study examines associations between playing violent video games and externalizing and prosocial behavior over a 5-year period across adolescence. Additionally, the study examines potential mediators of these associations, including empathic concern, benevolence, and self-regulation. Participants included 488 adolescents (Mage of child at Wave 1 = 13.83, SD = 0.98) and their parents, who completed self- and parental measures at three different time points, each 2 years apart. Results revealed that early exposure to video game violence was indirectly associated with lower levels of prosocial behavior as mediated by lower levels of benevolence. Additionally, early video game violence play was associated with higher levels of externalizing behavior at the cross-sectional level, but not 5 years later. Implications of results for adolescents and parents are discussed.
Executive function is the set of cognitive skills needed for goal directed behavior and is a strong predictor of academic success (Best, 2014). The present study examines the effectiveness of a ...custom video game designed to train the executive function skill of shifting-being able to efficiently shift attention from 1 task to another. In Experiment 1, students who played Alien Game for 4 hr, mostly at home, improved shifting skill more than those who played a word-search control game (d = .40). In Experiment 2, students who played All You Can ET (an updated version of Alien Game) for 2 hr improved shifting skill more than those who played a word-search control game (d = .36), regardless of whether the aliens were designed to portray hot or cool emotions. In addition, playing All You Can ET, which targets shifting skill, did not cause an improvement on inhibition skill, which represents a different kind of executive function. These results extend previous findings (Parong et al., 2017), and highlight a somewhat rare case in which playing a focused computer game for a short duration causes improvements in a targeted executive function skill. Overall, the results support the theory of specific transfer of general skills, which suggests that game-based training of cognitive skills should focus on concentrated practice on a target skill to train the target skill rather than divided practice across multiple different skills in an attempt to improve the mind in general.
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
Can playing a video game improve your executive function skills-that is, skills for controlling your cognitive processing? To address this question, we designed a game (All You Can ET) based on cognitive principles of skill learning that targeted a specific cognitive skill-the ability to shift from one task to another (that can be called shifting). In 2 experiments, students who played the game for 4 hr (Experiment 1) or 2 hr (Experiment 2) showed greater gains on cognitive tests of shifting than students who played a control game. This is 1 of a few studies to show replicated evidence for positive consequences of playing video games.
Gamification is the use of game design elements and game mechanics in non-game contexts. This idea has been used successfully in many web based businesses to increase user engagement. Some ...researchers suggest that it could also be used in web based education as a tool to increase student motivation and engagement. In an attempt to verify those theories, we have designed and built a gamification plugin for a well-known e-learning platform. We have made an experiment using this plugin in a university course, collecting quantitative and qualitative data in the process. Our findings suggest that some common beliefs about the benefits obtained when using games in education can be challenged. Students who completed the gamified experience got better scores in practical assignments and in overall score, but our findings also suggest that these students performed poorly on written assignments and participated less on class activities, although their initial motivation was higher.
► The dynamics of games can be incorporated into learning actions. ► We present the design and evaluation of a gamified learning experience. ► Students following the gamified version get better scores on practical assignments. ► They also participate less and perform poorly on written examinations. ► Gamification seems to have potential to increase student motivation.
•We propose a game search algorithm and use it as a prototype to improve the algorithm.•The four data mining models proposed in this article perform the best in numerical fitting.•Overall, the use of ...data mining techniques can provide more accurate and matching related translations.
With the continuous expansion of the translation market, users’ demand for translation tools such as computer software is also increasing, resulting in various machine translation technologies and methods. Japanese translation, as one of the important components of Chinese publicity work, has strong professionalism and complexity. In practice, how to effectively improve the translation quality of Japanese translation models using computer technology has always been a research issue of great concern. Based on this, we propose a game search algorithm and use it as a prototype to improve the algorithm. Then, a data mining model was established that can effectively improve search performance. This model solves the above problems by introducing genetic algorithms and dynamic programming theory. At the same time, in order to further improve the efficiency of existing data mining algorithms, we need to explore more efficient methods and strategies. After experimental verification, the four data mining models proposed in this article perform the best in numerical fitting. Overall, in Japanese multi context translation systems, the use of data mining techniques based on computer game search algorithms can provide more accurate and matching related translations. Compared to traditional Japanese translation software, it has higher quality and efficiency.
Concentration and immersion belong to a similar mental state in which a person is preoccupied with a particular task. In this study, we investigated a possibility of diagnosing two mental states with ...a subtle difference. Concentration and immersion states were induced to analyze the electroencephalography (EEG) changes during these states. Thirty-two college students in their 20s participated in the study. For concentration, subjects were asked to focus on a red dot at the center of a white screen, and for immersion they were asked to focus on playing a computer game. Relative to rest, Alpha waves decreased during concentration and immersion. Relative to rest, Theta waves decreased at almost all channels during concentration and, on the other hand, increased at all channels during immersion. Beta waves increased during concentration and immersion in the frontal and occipital lobes, with a higher increase in immersion. In the temporal lobe, Beta waves decreased during concentration and increased during immersion. In the central region, Beta waves decreased during concentration and immersion, and the decrease during immersion was larger. Such evident differences between the EEG results for concentration and immersion can imply diagnostic capabilities of various other mental states.
Several studies have reported that adaptivity and personalization in educational computer games facilitate reaching their full educational potential. However, there is little effort to develop ...adaptive educational computer games for promoting students' computational thinking (CT). In this study, an adaptive computer game is introduced, called AutoThinking, that not only promotes both CT skills and conceptual knowledge, but also provides adaptivity in both game-play and learning processes. To evaluate the possible effects of the game, an experimental study was carried out with 79 students in an elementary school in Estonia. AutoThinking and a conventional technology-enhanced learning approach were used for teaching CT to the experimental and control group, respectively. Our results reveal that AutoThinking improved students’ CT skills and conceptual knowledge better than the conventional approach. It was also found that students with a low and high level of prior knowledge made higher improvement in knowledge gain using the adaptive game compared to the traditional approach, especially those students with lower prior knowledge. Finally, our findings show that the adaptive game could also improve students' learning attitude toward CT better than the conventional approach, especially those students with higher prior learning attitudes.
•We developed an adaptive educational game for promoting computational thinking.•The game improved students' CT conceptual knowledge and skills.•The game improved students' learning attitude toward CT.•Students with lower prior knowledge benefited more from the game.•Students with higher prior learning attitude benefited more from the game.
•Clan leaders significantly differed in life goal power from not members of any clan.•e-Sports players differed from casual players in life goals affiliation and diversion.•e-Sports – a means of ...satisfying the need to belong through (teams, LAN parties).•e-Sports – a means of satisfying the need for power(position of a game team leader).
e-Sports is an area of the game scene, in which computer game players specialize in a specific game, form game teams (clans), compete together in tournaments and meet at so-called LAN (Local Area Network) parties. The objective of this study was to compare the different types of e-Sports players from the perspective of their personality traits and explicit motives and to compare e-Sports players with casual players in selected life goals.
A questionnaire assessing life goals (Pöhlmann & Brunstein, 1997) and basic personality traits (Personality inventory KUD, 1986) were administered to 108 e-Sports players and 54 casual computer game players.
In the group of e-Sports players, only clan leaders significantly differed in life goal power from those who were not members of any clan. Significant differences were also found between e-Sports players and casual players in terms of life goals affiliation and diversion.
e-Sports seem not only to be about playing computer games, but can also serve as a means of satisfying the need to belong. They do this by creating friendly relationships through membership in game teams and participation in LAN parties, or satisfying the need for power by upholding a position of a game team leader and determining its course of action.
Physical inactivity among children is a serious public health problem. It has been suggested that high levels of screen time are contributory factors that encourage sedentary lifestyles in young ...people. As physical inactivity and obesity levels continue to rise in young people, it has been proposed that new-generation active computer- and video-console games (otherwise known as "exergaming") may offer the opportunity to contribute to young people's energy expenditure during their free time. Although studies have produced some encouraging results regarding the energy costs involved in playing active video-console games, the energy costs of playing the authentic versions of activity-based video games are substantially larger, highlighting that active gaming is no substitute for real sports and activities. A small number of exergaming activities engage children in moderate-intensity activity, but most do not. Only 3 very small trials have considered the effects of exergaming on physical activity levels and/or other health outcomes in children. Evidence from these trials has been mixed; positive trends for improvements in some health outcomes in the intervention groups were noted in 2 trials. No adequately powered randomized, controlled trial has been published to date, and no trial has assessed the long-term impact of exergaming on children's health. We now need high-quality randomized, controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of exergaming, as well as its clinical relevance; until such studies take place, we should remain cautious about its ability to positively affect children's health.
The article aimed to determine the specificity of computer game discourse, its features, key linguistic characteristics, and communicative features. The methodology included the analysis of computer ...game discourse materials, in particular, dictionary articles, texts of electronic messages, and computer conferences, as well as recordings of fragments of the spoken language of users and users of computer games. The specific feature of computer discourse is the selective combination of features, typical for other types and forms of communication. Computer discourse has some communicative features: electronic communication channel; mediated communication; distance communication; emotionality transmission through emoji symbols; genre heterogeneity; discourse participants' creativity. Computer discourse is characterized by the dominance of English-language lexical bases (barbarisms and semantic translations) and a tendency to unify the norms and rules of communication. Despite such specificity, computer jargon in its functioning and especially word formation is subject to the laws of the Ukrainian language. In particular, affixal, non-affixal, and lexico-semantic are the most widespread modes of word formation in the computer lexicon. At the same time, lexico-semantic can be combined with other known ways. Computer vocabulary is characterized by the use of speech games and means of speech expression. The key tendency in the formation of computer discourse is to reduce the ways of information transmission as much as possible.
Memory of a traumatic event becomes consolidated within hours. Intrusive memories can then flash back repeatedly into the mind's eye and cause distress. We investigated whether reconsolidation—the ...process during which memories become malleable when recalled—can be blocked using a cognitive task and whether such an approach can reduce these unbidden intrusions. We predicted that reconsolidation of a reactivated visual memory of experimental trauma could be disrupted by engaging in a visuospatial task that would compete for visual working memory resources. We showed that intrusive memories were virtually abolished by playing the computer game Tetris following a memory-reactivation task 24 hr after initial exposure to experimental trauma. Furthermore, both memory reactivation and playing Tetris were required to reduce subsequent intrusions (Experiment 2), consistent with reconsolidation-update mechanisms. A simple, noninvasive cognitive-task procedure administered after emotional memory has already consolidated (i.e., > 24 hours after exposure to experimental trauma) may prevent the recurrence of intrusive memories of those emotional events.
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