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Are Video Games and Learning Mutually Exclusive? Researchers Looking for Answers

by Joanna Hutt

Student Jackson Terry gets going on PlayStation 2 video games

After taking some brief tests, student Jackson Terry (above and on front), son of UA employee Terri Terry, gets going on PlayStation2 video games.

One of this year’s extra-hot gift items is the video game system - heir to the Nintendo of years gone by. The technology is light years away from original Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong of Nintendo fame. Parents have a wider choice of systems today, including Nintendo’s Gamecube, Microsoft’s XBox, and Sony’s PlayStation 2. But what about that hypnotic effect those games seem to have over kids? Are parents’ concerns justified? What are these captivating games all about?

These are some of the questions a research project in The University of Alabama’s Institute for Communication Research is looking into. With a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, the researchers have embarked on what they hope will be the first of a series of steps that will uncover how these games affect children’s behavior, social attitudes and learning abilities.

They will test more than 120 children in an effort to look at the many facets of playing these video games that can capture kids for hours and hours. This fact alone concerns parents. The researchers call that ultra-hypnotic state kids can get into while playing the games the "flow state." The kids call it being "in a zone." Parents sometime call it "weird."

"I worry that kids will become overweight and their grades will be adversely affected," says Linda Hill, mother of two sons and a communication specialist in University Relations. "I have to monitor how much time they spend with the games."

"Kids spend too much time in front of the video games at the expense of other activities," says Scott Burks, father of a 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son and director of Web communications in University Relations. "You have to pull them away sometimes and insist they go outside."

Burks thinks that these games have taken the place of TV in many ways. Researcher Dr. Mary Maxwell, assistant director of the ICR, agrees. "The video games are the newest techno-genre, like TV used to be," she said. "So now we should look at the effects of these games, as we did at the effects of television."

But the researchers are looking at the flow state differently. "We are trying to find out if being in that zone make the kids more susceptible to learning," said Maxwell. "We’re looking at whether it is possible to increase their learning."

After the kids have been playing the games for a period of time, the team asks questions to determine if they have reached that window opened to learning. "Then we present them with some pro-social, positive materials," explained Maxwell. These outcomes are what the Department of Justice is interested in.

The effects of playing these games are not automatically negative and may have some positive effects, according to Dr. Dorina Miron, a post-doctoral research fellow. In some cases, the differences between the games and external reality are neither bad nor good - just different, said Miron. "The kids pay attention to the games and accept the challenge to learn them. It’s different from books because this is easier than cognitive processing," she said.

What does happen in playing the games? "The processing is visual, more concrete," said Miron. "Their visual capacity is filled, and playing requires hand-eye coordination."

The kids also get to "discover" by playing the games, in a more non-linear way than a classroom offers. As the levels get more difficult and more novel objects appear on the screen, the player gets the benefits of a high level of visuality. If they lose, they can expect to do better next time. "And you have the feelings that come with doing better," said Maxwell.

According to the researchers, parents should be wary of any activities that displace all the others. "Kids need a diversity of activities," said Miron. According to the researchers, physical activities, as well as reading and other cognitive activities, also aids brain development.

Some of the kids have even expressed a preference for other activities than game playing. They said they would rather be outside. "Their preferences are individualistic, and we won’t know what the consensus is until we finish this research," said Maxwell.

The ICR, located in Reese Phifer Hall on campus, is looking for more kids to take part in this study. If your child, or a child you know, plays video games, is 7 years old and would like to participate, you may call 348-1235 to find out more or to register. Parents will receive $25 for each child’s participation.