Gamers Are Smarter Than "Normal People"

The Office of Naval Research in the US thinks that the "perceptual and cognitive ability" of gamers is 10-20% higher than "normal people"

Contrary to what sensationalist reporting in the press might suggest, not all scientific research into the effects of videogames is about violent content that corrupts young minds. Nevertheless, we never expected the US Department of Defense to quote the following on its website:

"We have discovered that video game players perform 10 to 20 percent higher in terms of perceptual and cognitive ability than normal people that are non-game players."

These comments were made by Ray Perez, a Program Officer at the Office of Naval Research's Warfighter Performance Department. We might point out that we came to that conclusion a long time before he did, but whatever.

Worryingly though, Perez notes that one of the concerns of his research is to develop, "training technologies and training methods to improve performance on the battlefield."

Right... So, find out that games make people smarter and then use that information for warfare. I'm pretty sure that's not what the creators of Pong had in mind.

According to the report, the Warfighter Performance Department is currently working on a virtual environment that it's using to develop "adaptability within team dynamics". This training program looks very much like a cave apparently (like one of the caves in Afghanistan perhaps?).

"You walk into a cave and you're bombarded by this totally different, artificial world where there may be intelligent avatars that you interact with to perform a mission," Perez said. "These avatars will act as teammates, so you, as an individual, will have to interact with these avatars as a unit."

"I think we're at the beginning of a new science of learning," he said, "that will be the integration of neuroscience with developmental psychology, with cognitive science, and with artificial intelligence."

Worrying stuff.

This follows the comments of a US Air Force Colonel who said that he thought vidoegaming had made young recruits "naturals" at the fast-paced, multitasking demands of modern warfare (no pun intended). The Colonel, a former F-15 pilot, was reportedly commanding a squadron of Predator drone pilots at the time (Predator drones are remotely piloted, unmanned aircraft used for both reconnaissance and offensive operations).

so, let's to be a GAMER \(^^)/

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