- You are here:
- Home
- Health
- Health information
- Health news
- October 2009
- Videogamers have trouble focusing
Videogamers have trouble focusing
23 October 2009: People who play action videogames for hours at a time may be less able to focus on tasks, according to scientists.
The US researchers looked at 51 male university students who played action videogames. Half of the men were classed as ‘low gamers’ (they played videogames for less than two hours per week), and the other half were classed as ‘high gamers’ (they played videogames for an average of 43 hours per week).
Each student carried out a test to measure their attention span while the researchers recorded their electrical brain activity using an electroencephalography (EEG). During the test, the words ‘red’, ‘blue’, ‘green’ or ‘yellow’ were displayed on a computer screen in either a font colour that matched the word, or one that didn’t. The men were asked to identify the font colour of the word.
When the word and colour didn’t match, both groups took longer to respond and were less likely to give the right answer. According to the researchers, this shows that the amount of time you spend playing videogames does not affect your ability to react to something unexpected (reactive attention control).
However, when the scientists looked at the students’ attention span over time and their ability to adapt (proactive attention control), they found that the high gamers had a shorter attention span than the low gamers. The EEG tests from the gamers also showed that brain activity was reduced in high gamers, in areas of the brain needed for attention span.
The researchers believe that, in contrast to previous studies, their findings show that people who play videogames for many hours a week are less able to maintain attention and remember specific information in surroundings that are not very engaging.
Commenting on the study, Dr Sneh Khemka, medical director for Bupa international, said: “These results will be of interest to videogamers throughout the world. We often hear conflicting messages about whether playing videogames is good or bad for our health. This was a small study, however, it does seem to suggest that people who spend many hours a week playing videogames find it harder to focus on other tasks.
“What the researchers haven’t done is give us an idea of how long you would have to play videogames for before they start affecting your attention span. Even so, the main message to take from this study is that, as with most things in life, videogaming is a perfectly healthy pastime if done in moderation.”
-
Read the study
Bailey K, West R, Anderson CA. A negative association between video game experience and proactive cognitive control. Psychophysiology 2009: 1–9.
doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00925.x
Contact us
-
To discuss your needs, please call us on:
+44 (0) 1273 718 306
Upcoming treatment?
Please call our Medical Centre on:
+44 (0) 1273 333 911
We will check your cover and talk through any concerns you have