Feature Channels: Gaming

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Brain scans from nearly 200 adolescent boys provide evidence that the brains of compulsive video game players are wired differently. Chronic video game play is associated with hyperconnectivity between several pairs of brain networks. Some of the changes are predicted to help game players respond to new information. Other changes are associated with distractibility and poor impulse control. The new findings, a collaborative effort between the University of Utah School of Medicine, and Chung-Ang University in South Korea, were published online in Addiction Biology on Dec. 21, 2015.

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Playing three-dimensional video games – besides being lots of fun – can boost the formation of memories, according to University of California, Irvine neurobiologists. Along with adding to the trove of research that shows these games can improve eye-hand coordination and reaction time, this finding shows the potential for novel virtual approaches to helping people who lose memory as they age or suffer from dementia.

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Parents who are anxious and emotional can impact their children's violent video game play, according to new research from Iowa State University. Warm and restrictive parents successfully limited children’s play. However, anxious parents had the opposite effect.

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Video games are not adequately rated for tobacco content, according to a new UC San Francisco study that found video gamers are being widely exposed to tobacco imagery.

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Violent video game play is linked to increased aggression in players but insufficient evidence exists about whether the link extends to criminal violence or delinquency, according to a new American Psychological Association task force report.

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With the advent of video games, a frequently asked question has been whether we get as engrossed in them emotionally as we do when we see a scary movie. The answer is yes and in new ways, according to new research by faculty in Indiana University's Media School.

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The Academic Physician Precision Challenge is a fun, interactive game to raise awareness of academic medicine. Users test their knowledge of anatomy by placing 11 organs in the correct spot. Correct answers unlock medical advancement or discovery factoids and all players are ranked from surgeon to high school biology student at the end of the game..

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From the adventures of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider to the apocalyptic drama of Fallout - new research from the University of Warwick has revealed the secret to how some of the world’s most iconic video games were created.

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There's a new game for serious gamers to explore on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Verigames site (https://verigames.com/). Ghost Map Hyperspace, developed by Raytheon BBN Technologies, is the newest addition to a series of games being developed under DARPA sponsorship that empower gamers to do the work of software verification experts simply by playing games.

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In Monster Proof, a new browser-based puzzle game from voidALPHA, players assume the role of a newly crowned ruler of a vast country in a fantasy setting. To win, they use problem-solving skills to answer illustrated mathematical questions. As each level is solved, the game crowd sources the software security process of formal verification.

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A decoded message from a distant galaxy provided the plans for a Quantum Mechanical 3D printer in Left Brain Games’ puzzle shooter, Dynamakr. Players feed patterns into the machine to create designs for new devices never seen before on Earth—devices so advanced, they’re like magic. Game play allows non-experts to participate in improving software security in Phase 2 of DARPA’s Verigames project.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: swelling magnets; using genetics to fight dengue fever; cybersecurity; Hubble finds 'Nasty' star; ventilation and patient survival; food security; gamification in business; and cancer research on implants to improve glioma treatment.

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The study examined aggressive behavior between subjects playing games cooperatively, competitively and by themselves.

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Every March, students at Missouri University of Science and Technology wield wooden walking sticks called shillelaghs to rid the campus of rubber snakes in honor of how, according to legend, St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland centuries ago. This year students, alumni and other visitors to the university’s website will be able to join in on the fun.

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A new report from the A-GAMES project, a collaboration between New York University and the University of Michigan, examines how teachers are using digital games in their classrooms to monitor student learning and provide ongoing feedback.

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Dr. Rolf Wigand's article, “The Dynamics of Shared Leadership: Building Trust and Enhancing Performance,” was published as the lead story in volume 99, issue 5 of the Journal of Applied Psychology. The article’s publication is a direct result of Dr. Wigand’s $400,000 National Science Foundation’s research grant, which supported the study of a virtual organization using data collected from a massively-multiplayer online game (MMOG).

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Scientists have created video games that add an important element of fun to the repetitive training needed to improve vision in people – including adults – with a lazy eye and poor depth perception.

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A new study shows for the first time that playing action video games improves not just the skills taught in the game, but learning capabilities more generally.

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Sleep apnea may affect your ability to form new spatial memories, such as remembering where you parked your car, new research led by NYU Langone Medical Center sleep specialists suggests. The study, published online Oct. 29 in Journal of Neuroscience, demonstrates through the playing of a specific video game that disruption of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep as a consequence of sleep apnea impairs spatial memory in humans even when other sleep stages are intact.