The Effects of Game Play on Conscious/Emotional States

Judging by what I read in this article and what I can derive from other courses I've taken, I believe that the perception of reality of a video game that occurs within the brain is in an emotional sense, not (obviously) a physical one.

In relation to information provided in the article, I believe that the effects of extensive game play can be paralleled to those of a drug. The article makes note of research done on brain activity and the effect of game play. The study done was based around the measurement of beta waves in a person's brain. As the article stated, beta waves were "nearly zero" for those who had heavy game play. It was also noted that there is little to no use of the prefrontal cortex, which aids in decision making as well as positive social interaction. This seems to correlate to the effect of alcohol use. Alcohol acts a depressant and, I believe, can slow brain activity as well as impair decision making.

Also mentioned in the article was the example of the two young boys. The younger brother had beaten the older brother at the game they were playing. In reaction to his defeat, the older brother reacted violently. The aggression from game play has been a typical issue associated with video games. This same form of aggression, in my opinion, can be related (again)to alcohol use. One of the most common negative effects of alcohol is aggression that often arises mainly from intoxication. This is similar to game play in the sense that the more a person plays a game, the more their attention becomes focused on what is happening within the game, as shown by the study. When the person loses at the game, they may become angry and reflect it in their behavior.

To better address the original question, the two examples noted seem to be the basis for what the definition of "reality" is within game play. For example, what occurs within the game become more realistic the more the user plays the game. The decrease in brain wave activity demonstrates this. In addition to this, the aggression shown as an effect of game play demonstrates the emotional "realness" that comes from game play.

As far as video games producing lasting effects on the brain, I believe it is still somewhat unclear. Though, it was stated that some studies have found that high blood pressure and an increase in heart rate have been correlated with extensive game play. Based upon this, I would say that, most likely, heavy and long-term game play could be partial factors in health issues, either physical or mental. I think that if more studies are done, we can be more certain whether or not this is true. For example, if two large groups of adults were to be arranged and compared over a period of time, this would shed a little more light on the topic. One group could consist of adults who have little to no game play and another of adults who have consistent or frequent game play. Long-term effects on health could be noted and compared between the two groups.

In general, I feel that light game play doesn't have strong negative effects on a person's health. For children, especially with the advancement of technology, I think it's important to reinforce the fact that games are a simulated environment. As far as adults, they must consider to what extent they are detached from their surroundings and social environments.

Brain\Consciousness

The brain percieves video games as real or fake depending on the person i believe. For younger kids they might think that war and wrestling games are cool and go out and try to shoot something with a gun or try to put somebody in the sleeper hold and slam them on the ground. I believe some games can have a lasting effect on the brain. I haven't personally seen it but I have heard stories about kids trying to do things that they see or do in a video game. A lot of video games even lookk realistic so it might be easy for some people to think that they are real and some games are based off of real events that has happened in the past. Video games are pretty much virtual reality and everything about a lot of games are real movements and motions.

Consciousness, The Brain and Behavior

Today's reading was not an attempt to confuse you. One article shows that there is a clear set of data to support the fact that there is a real connection between video games and brain behavior. The second piece was merely to highlight the problem of consciousness and where it lies within the brain.

If the article on consciousness seemed more confusing than concrete there is a reason for that. There is no clear consensus on where consciousness lies but we all know and accept it as somewhere in the brain. The article goes on to explain that consciousness could be a result of many portions of the brain working in concert to create a walking taking Ego. Take a moment and look up the Word Ego in the dictionary if you are not clear on its meaning.......Ok now that you've done that lets discuss it for a moment. The Ego, as defined by Freud, really defines consciousness in human beings. This is who we are, or who we think we are and it defines us. The Ego is also the part of our consciousness which deals most with the external world and makes meaning from the things we perceive. So...if the consciousness exists in the brain, and consists of many parts working together, and (as the second article points out)videogames have a clear impact on our brains functioning, then they also have the power to alter our consciousness.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Videogames can alter our consciousness. Now were getting into Science fiction territory right? Anyone hear of the new blockbuster movie Avatar? It's another Hollywood blockbuster but has a nice twist in the plot. Apparently (in the film) the military is capable of doing the old mind meld between two different people. One person's consciousness is transferred to the body of another and is able to experience all kinds of things through them.

This reminds of one of our main points from yesterday. Knowledge is imperfect. Many of our experiences come to us indirectly through movies, other people, language etc. These attenuated experiences create our consciousness and Ego. Our Self. What is to separate the Avatar experience from that of our actual experience? One remove? Maybe two? Take a minute and look up "Avatar"....... Ok what i have here translates literally from Hindu as "incarnation". An avatar is an incarnation of our self and can be an extension of our consciousness. The experiences we have through the Avatar also have the capability of changing our consciousness. That is a pretty big deal. It is even more important because that is what most video games do. They present an Avatar under your control, capable of taking action in a world of defined possibilities.

How real is it?

Some readings for tommorrow:
Short article on how great games are

An article on Socializing in Online Games

A final article on Solitude in a world of connectivity

The video embedded on the left is there for entertainment, and to point out how seriously teenage kids can be affected by these games. Never seen anything like it.
On a different note. Please be sure that your posts meet the 100 word minimum outlined in the course information on th4e portal.

Effects of video games

I think that in general the brain perceives a video game as real as it wants it to be, of course the brain isn't going to think it could be in the middle of the desert somewhere under fire from an enemy but i think the brain is creating an alter ego. I think that this is the way that the brain looks at video games obviously the more involved you become with a video game the more the bigger the alter ego is going to be. Saying this though there can be times that i have experienced myself where you will subconsciously reference something that you have seen to something from a video game i disagree that it is something that cant be controlled. If you were to do the same studies on an individual who would read books for the same period of time as someone plays video games would the same results not be shown? I think that in relation to BETA waves it has to depend on each individual and how they live there life to see where they would start on BETA level without video games being involved because if people are on a different level and drop by the same amount then surely mixed results would be shown. Whereas if you get people with the same BETA level and they drop the same then aren't the results are going to show the same thing?

I think that people who play video games use it to distress from there everyday life well in general (going by the video on the homepage). I think that anything that we involve ourselves in will/can have a lasting affect on the brain if we involve ourselves in the activity. By that i mean the way that we see whatever activity we are participating in.

In one of the articles when it spoke about the children and Mario kart with the way that the ten year old acted to his younger brother, then the way that the eight year old acted, i think this has allot more to do with just a video game. The only reason i say this is because if a parent is seeing there child act like this then surely they are going to be told off and punished? I know i would of been if i ever acted in that way to my younger sister in general let alone over a computer game. I suppose that when you look at it that way then video games to affect an individual especially if it is unsupervised gaming with actions like this happening. Things like that can have more than an alter ego affect on an individual it could give them behaviours that could be shown throughout their life.

cousciousness

I watched a PBS special last night that was very interesting on the subject of human emotions. They said that the amygdala, part of the cerebral cortex which is influenced heavily by secretions in flight or flight, is where a person develops anger. Now when a person develops that anger, there is a direct pathway or bunch of connecting pathways to our cortex which initiates a response. This would have to mean that whatever a person is doing, be it video games or not, is strong enough to illicit a secretion to trigger an emotion. Playing video games I believe can trigger this, and it has been scientifically proven that it can. However in the argument of conscienceness if that part of the brain where taken away, as suggested in the article New Empiricism, we as individuals would still have some means of knowing our surroundings or being aware of our experiences. Another idea that was presented in the PBS program was the fact that our frontal lobe is what truly experiences our emotions and the rest of our brain interprets them in there general respect. However, there is not a straight pathway to the cortex in which our bodies can illicit a response, there are several channels and they leisurely make there way to the cortex. Scientist believe that, according to this program, the frontal lobe is still developing and is the newer part of the brain. The part that allows the person to ponder on their emotions. Where as the amygdala is old and has been used in the fight or flight response. When playing a video game I guess it would have to depend on the persons experiences in life as to how the game is perceived and how much consciousness they put into the game. A person who whole heartily puts themselves into a game and depends apon it would illicit a greater response than a person who knows that it is just a game and has had greater life experiences, such as being in a war and knowing what is real.

Plato

In the article the allergory of the cave i think that Plato is trying to say that people look at things in a different light for the example the glass is half empty opposed to the glass is half full. I think that when people play some of these video games it tries to show a life that they want to live they want to some on the front line first in to battle etc. Of course it is possible to change our understandings and our belifs but it is not allways the easiest thing to do, sometimes it can cause pain to an individual. However that small pain might result in a greater good. Referring to the second extract, the slave prefers the new life style that he discovers and in Heine sight it is something he wishes he had done earlier. Everyone alive has a say about the actions we make in our lives, but it is how we react in each situation that determines who we are as people.

Plato

I think Plato is trying to tell us that everyone has different experiences. They may be good they my be bad, it all depends how you look at them, and how you face them. Some times you have to be more optimistic about certain things in life. You have to be a strong person for your self and others in your life at times. As you look at life and the experiences that you have you need to better understand why they happened, and take a deeper look. As you do this you may notice that its better than what could of happened or better than where you were in life. It also has impact on your knowledge and your openness to learn.