To Study the Effects of Video Games on Concentration, Attention and Reaction Time Among Undergraduate Students: A Randomised Controlled Trial
[1]
Suria Samsuri, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higher Eduation), Melaka, Malaysia.
[2]
Cheah Ting Ting, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higher Eduation), Melaka, Malaysia.
[3]
Mohamad Fahim Hakim bin Mohamad Ariff, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higher Eduation), Melaka, Malaysia.
[4]
Dharanya Karthigesu, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higher Eduation), Melaka, Malaysia.
[5]
Lim Yik Hoong, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higher Eduation), Melaka, Malaysia.
Objectives: This randomised controlled trial was conducted to determine the effects of video games on concentration, attention and reaction time among the students of Melaka Manipal Medical College. Methodology: 60 participants were randomly assigned into two groups, where 30 participants were assigned to video gaming while the other 30 participants were assigned to reading an article. After the participants had gone through the video games and reading respectively, the participants were administered a series of three tests, which were concentration, attention and reaction time. Test scores obtained from the two groups were then converted into percentages and were analysed using Epi Info™. Results: Based on the study, subjects in the intervention group had achieved a mean of 27.9% in concentration while the control group had achieved a mean of 30.8% in concentration. These results were slightly higher when compared to the intervention group. In terms of attention, the intervention group had attained a mean of 56.7% while the control group had achieved mean of 60.0% which were also higher when compared to the intervention group. In reaction time however, it was observed that the mean of intervention group was 364.3ms which was higher as compared to the control group that was 324.9ms. Conclusion: Non-video gamers performed slightly better than video gamers.
Video Games, Concentration, Attention, Reaction Time
[1]
Park, K. (2015). Park's textbook of Preventive and social medicine (23rd ed.).
[2]
Ahuja, N. (2011). A short textbook of psychiatry. New Delhi, India: Jaypee Brothers Medical.
[3]
Barlett, C. P., Vowels, C. L., Shanteau, J., Crow, J., & Miller, T. (2009). The effect of violent and non-violent computer games on cognitive performance. Computers in Human Behaviour, 96-102. Retrieved from http://public.gettysburg.edu/~cbarlett/index/09BVSCM.pdf
[4]
Sternberg, R. J. (2003). Cognitive Psychology (3rd ed.). Thompson Wadsworth Publishers
[5]
Blumberg, F. C. (1998). Developmental differences at play: Children’s selective attention and performance in computer games. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 19, 615–624.
[6]
Green, S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action computer game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423, 523–537.
[7]
Video Games Lead to Faster Decisions that are No Less Accurate. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3679
[8]
Goldstein, Jeffrey, Cajko, Lara, Oosterbroek, Mark,... Femke. (1997, January 01). VIDEO GAMES AND THE ELDERLY. Retrieved from https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/sbp/sbp/1997/00000025/00000004/art00006#
[9]
Child Development: Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes in Developing Countries. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673607600762
[10]
What Causes the Brain to Have Slow Processing Speed, and How Can the Rate Be Improved? Brain-effect.com is rated on average with. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.brain-effect.com/en/magazin/lack-of-concentration
[11]
What Causes the Brain To Have Slow Processing Speed, and How Can the Rate Be Improved? Retrieved from Heather Walker - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-the-brain-to-have-slow-processing-speed-and-how-can-the-rate-be-improved/
[12]
Sentis on ‘Concentration Challenge - Can you count the bounces?’ retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2PaH-NRBKY&t=2s
[13]
Marissa Webb ‘Recreate of Simons and Chabris (1999) of the Monkey Business Illusion’ retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bnnmWYI0lM&t=8s
[14]
Human Benchmark reaction time test retrieved from https://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime
[15]
The Effect of Videogames on Student Achievement BY JONATHAN CRATON retrieved from http://www.acsd.org/article/the-effect-of-videogames-on-student-achievement/
[16]
Studies investigating how playing video games can affect the brain have shown that they can cause changes in many brain regions retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170622103824.htm
[17]
Playing video games may cause changes in many brain regions, according to a new review of previous research retrieved from http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/neuroscience/video-games-brain-04982.html
[18]
Video games can change your brain retrived from https://blog.frontiersin.org/2017/07/05/video-games-can-change-your-brain/
[19]
Rosner B (2011) Fundamentals of Biostatistics. 7th edn. Brooks/Cole, Cengage Leraning, Boston
[20]
InfoMed Malaysia (Issue. 21). (2017). Infomed (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.
