Researchers Challenge "Attention Span" Study

[Chasmodius]

I could see it having some (some, not much) plausibility if it focused on kids who only play high-paced, seizure inducing shooters.

While I understand that you used it for hyperbole, is there any proven truth to the idea that First Person Shooter games induce seizures at all, and more importantly, at a rate higher than other kinds of games? It's a great mental image, and a common thought, but is it supported by evidence? I'm just curious.

Imagine playing a hundred hour RPG that reanacted Moby Dick for an english course, or an RTS where you controlled an entire theatre of WW2 that was historically accurate for social studies. From a gaming standpoint, these could be boring, but if gaming experience and education have to be as closely related as the study suggests, it'd be a hell of a lot more effective than what we have now.

Moby Dick would be the lamest Role Playing Game ever! Well, maybe not the lamest, but still pretty crippled (zing!). And I liked the interpretation [http://www.penny-arcade.com]. Although inserting the Moby Dick storyline (or references to it) in a game like Puzzle Pirates is always possible. Or even just Pirates where you replace attacking defenseless Spanish Galleons with attacking defenseless whales. Except that I'm sure some environmentalists wouldn't be happy about it, even if it was historically accurate for the time-period.

 

[HarmanSmith]

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH TOO MANY BIG WORDS! I have to go play Gears of War where the most complicated method of expression is manly grunting. Oh, and I get to kill things too!

Why don't we ask those Koreans who died playing MMOs how good their focus is?

 

[Rayansaki]

So many crappy studies always coming up with opposed results, maybe it's time to agree that video games hardly have any effect on people at all, be it good or bad?

 

[Gigaguy64]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!
I love Texas!

 

[Kailat777]

Hey researchers, why don't you go try and cure cancer instead of wasting your time on trivial things such as this.

(500 posts, go me.)

I hope you realize researchers in psychology will be almost completely useless in the search for a cure for cancer? Not every researcher in the world practices medicine.

More on topic, I'd like to see this study repeated by either Swing, et al. (keeping in mind the rebuttal) or by Ferguson, (noting that, since he cited himself, he does work in a similar field).

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Not as funny as Higgs vs. Hawking [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article4727894.ece] though.

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

 

[The Random One]

I was going to comment that some researches are coming to believe that what people term ADHD and short attention spans are just facets of genius-level creativity, and that some people diagnosed with ADD are not faling to pay attention because they're unable to, they are failing to pay attention because they already understood/they can't be bothered to even pretend to care and all the Ritalin they're being force-fed just scales them back to 'normal'.

But it hardly seems relevant.

 

[Varun Garuda Maharaj]

when coming up with a conclusion there will always be someone to prove you wrong

 

[Marmooset]

Hey everyone! SCIENCE FIGHT!!!

Thank goodness.
I was getting tired of the Science vs. Religion exhibitions.

 

[Canid117]

Most kids have short attention spans because they're kids. They haven't been living as long so an hour seems longer to them. Do these people really forgotten that much of being a kid?

/study

But seriously. Have they ever seen a kid gaming? Their focus is legendary. You could probably swap the entire education system with educational games and get a generation of geniuses (IMHO).

It isn't difficult at all to teach scientific principle, mathematics, reading/writing, and just about anything else through a game of some sort. (Heck, ordinary games hone the mind as they are, if only in the sense of quick decision-making while under stress; a very useful trait in more than a few professions.)

No but making it actually fun can be difficult.

 

[KiruTheMant]

Dammit,We muist combat them with science! PUT MORE SCIENCE INTO THE MACHINE GUNS,DELICIOUS,MAGICAL,SCIENCE!

 

[GonzoGamer]

Most kids have short attention spans because they're kids. They haven't been living as long so an hour seems longer to them. Do these people really forgotten that much of being a kid?

/study

But seriously. Have they ever seen a kid gaming? Their focus is legendary. You could probably swap the entire education system with educational games and get a generation of geniuses (IMHO).

It isn't difficult at all to teach scientific principle, mathematics, reading/writing, and just about anything else through a game of some sort. (Heck, ordinary games hone the mind as they are, if only in the sense of quick decision-making while under stress; a very useful trait in more than a few professions.)

You could be right. Parts of Bully were almost educational. Some of the Civ games are pretty educational (but could also be confusing depending on the users base of existing knowledge. Now Rock Band is going to be able to actually teach how to play real instruments; NOW I feel like getting it.
Educational games used to be flash card based rip-offs of vaguely popular games and other aspects of children's entertainment. If they actually tried to make something that was entertaining and factual, it could be a fun and effective learning experience.

 

[antipunt]

This just in:

Study finds that studies regularly contradict each other

 

[khaimera]

Great article, Andy!!! You turned quite a bit of dense info into an easy to read short article that explained a lot. Enjoyed it mucho.

 

[Ih8pkmn]

Well then.

Anti-gaming critics, take than. It helps us concentrate MORE. HA!

But seriously: Why are shrinks trying to figure THIS out when they could be curing Schizophrenia or something!

 

[Phuctifyno]

Well the seizure bit was just meant to paraphrase the media's often misguided spin on video games - so evidence is probably non-existent. And Moby Dick... actually I think it could make a decent RPG if well handled... admittedly not a very exiting one. Grinding on sea life could be an interesting prospect. LOL. Fedallah with some sweet harpoon attacks, and fire spells - why not. The point is that we have games nowadays with plots and characters as complex as any novel can offer, and getting involved interactively with the events is more intellectually stimulating than trying to memorize them off the page; I think it's something the education system is missing out on and could pursue. Mass media, education, and the majority of these "studies" are mostly controlled my the baby-boomer generation, which I think we all know can never truly understand the impact and potential of interactive media because it wasn't a part of their upbringing, which is when the mind is most impressionable.

On the other hand, conversation trees in Shakespearean might cause some brains to explode.

 

[grimsprice]

This just in:

Study finds that studies regularly contradict each other

This just in:

Study finds previous studies claiming studies regularly contradict each other is wrong! Studies never contradict each other! Controversial study finds.

 

[Carlston]

As a kid with a bad attention span. Growing up in the age of no drugs, no ADHD or ADD terms... and parents just beat the crap out of you to pay attention.

Games helped me memorize, keep my attention (Atari 2600 here guy come on) problem solving, hand eye cord, all that good stuff.

So I call BS on the short attention span thing.
Some kids have amazingly short attention spans do to disorders.
Many more have a lesser affliction...

It's called being a kid.

 

[TheDoctorsCompanion.]

Of course the study is wrong! Games take tons of focus and concentration in order to beat them, and that's why I'm so bad at gaming. I do in fact have a short attention span, but I'm most certainly not blaming video games on it. I'd say it's just the fact that everything amuses me.
[http://photobucket.com/images/shiny%20objects]

 

[antipunt]

Study finds previous studies claiming studies regularly contradict each other is wrong! Studies never contradict each other! Controversial study finds.

Ahaha; love it