Letter of Transmittal

My experience this semester in English 1010 has been amazing. We have discussed many threshold
concepts and I have learned a lot along the way. Through the use of discussions, notebooks, labs,
reflections, essay drafting and revisions, I have grasped a lot of the threshold concepts. Some of the
methods worked better than others and overall, I personally find that essay drafting along with the joint
help from instructors in revising essays was the most effective in learning the concepts. My favorite
essay to write was the narrative essay and it really helped the way I see writing. I always thought of
writing as a drag until I did that assignment. It helped me see the way that dialogue is used in stories and
how it correlates to conversations in real life. It has also helped me see the way we form questions and
create excitement in everyday conversation. The narrative showed me how to make stories seem lifelike
with sensory detail as well as describing actions in the story. I didnt quite enjoy the rhetoric quite as
much, but I definitely feel its importance. It was different going from such a free-flowing creative essay
to such a constructed and technical type of essay. At first, I was having trouble finding my target
audience and creating the ideal essay. I sat and ran multiple audiences by the instructor at the lab, but it
was always to vague. He then showed me a demonstration of a drawing of a smiley face. He started with
a few dots and started to draw a circle asking me to stop him when I could determine what the drawing
was. I couldnt identify the object until after the eyes, nose, and head was drawn. Once he got to the
mouth I knew it was a smiley face. Then he asked me why it took me so long to identify the drawing.
Then went on to explain to me that I was trying to see the whole picture based off little points. It
opened my eyes and I immediately started coming up with multiple audiences one after another. I
couldnt write the overall essay without identifying each point first. This semester has greatly improved
my writing ability and I am glad to have learned all the concepts.

Narrative

Wavelength

I stare endlessly into the emptiness of my room. Its relaxing. This is the only place that they cant reach
me. My mind is free to wander. I enjoy being alone.

Black sheets hang over the edges of my bed. Black curtains drape over my window. Blocking out every
ray of sunlight. A single lamp in the corner of the room stays dimly lit. I dont like leaving this place. Once
I step outside this room is when true colors are put on display for my eyes to ponder.

Its 7:15am. The bus will be here soon. I quickly got out of bed and put on the nearest set of clothes I can
find, clean or dirty. My dad is yelling from the base of the stairs youre going to be late!

Why is my son such a loser?

I dont put much effort in. It doesnt matter anyways. Someone has always got something to say about
you no matter what you do. I rush down the stairs and out the front door. Bye mom, by dad, I love
you!

I would love you more though if you werent so irritating

 My parents arent bad. They just dont understand me. Honestly though, no one does. My mom is a
little better than my dad. Sometimes it seems as though she can see my intentions the way I can hers.

The sky is very dreary today. There is an overcast and it looks like the rain could pour down on us at any
given moment. I reach the bus stop just as it was pulling up. It braked to a screeching halt and the
hissing of compressed air was released as the doors swung open. The bus driver was always friendly and
greeted us with a sour smile. Good morning everyone, are you ready for school?.

My life is a living hell.

He hated his job. He hated kids. He hated that his life ended up the way it did. In ways, I could relate
with the bus driver. He was miserable.

I walked down the narrow aisle. Kids yelling and screaming. Visions invading my mind. A kid towards the
front keeps glancing back towards a girl he has had a crush on for quite some time. None of his actions
were discreet in the slightest.

She looks so good today, Im going to talk to her after class for sure.

Meanwhile she was fully aware of his emotions and didnt reciprocate them in the slightest.

Why wont that imbecile stop looking at me, its creeping me out.

Most human thoughts are the opposite of what they express verbally. Now I do admit, there are some
out there that express their true feelings up front. Those kinds of people are very rare. It is so common
for people to say one thing and mean another. This is why communication can be so hard. I can see right
through all the acts. I can see true intent. True meaning. At first, I thought it was a curse. Everyone was
so cruel, and the constant visions reminded me so. After 17 years, I learned that itss in the human
nature to lie. It doesnt bother me as much now, it is just what they do.

I find an empty seat towards the middle of the bus. Stumbling over kids back packs, I eventually make it
to my seat and slide over to the window. I love looking out the window on my way to school. Although
this town isnt very interesting, and I always see all the same sights, it beats looking at the back of the
profanity covered bus seat. I always set my bag in the empty space beside me so that no one comes and
sits by me, I want to be alone. Engaging in conversation is tiring.

MhmmmDo you mind if I sit there?

I slowly turn and look up with an expressionless look on my face. My eyes still droopy from the
countless nights of lost sleep. Her face was rosy red. She clung to the straps of her backpack with a half
smirk on her face. I could tell that she mustered every ounce of courage just to ask the question

But why me?

It was then that I quickly scanned the bus and noticed, all the seats were full. It figures. No one would
willingly inquire to sit by me. For a moment, my heart skipped a beat. I dont know why it made me
slightly happy, but it did. Yet once again I was let down by the universe.

Sure, I said as I grabbed my bag and moved it to the floor between my legs.
She sat down quickly as the bus started moving again. She kept face forward the whole time to avoid
eye contact but thats not what bothered me.

This girl was beautiful. Her light brown haired flowed down to the base of her back and rested delicately
on her shoulders. She was a fair skinned angel and her light brown eyes shone like the stars in the night
sky. To make matters even worse

I couldnt read her.

Rhetorical Analysis

John McCain is a well-respected US Senator of Arizona. He was a hero in the war against Vietnam and
was a survivor as a prisoner of war, returning to the US after five and a half years of imprisonment and
torture. John McCain belongs to the republican party and has run for president twice, once in 2000 and
the second in 2008 as the republican nominee. Senator John McCain also held a place as the Head of the
Armed Services Committee at the time of his given statement and is still on the committee as a
chairman. The intended audience for his given statement are younger republicans with family history of
military service considering voting for John McCain as the senator of the Arizona. This text was a
publication of a statement given by the senator on December 9th of 2014 titled FLOOR STATEMENT BY
SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE REPORT ON CIA INTERROGATION
METHODS. The statement was published on his Arizona Senate website. McCains objective is to
persuade the emotions of citizens that the use of such enhanced torture tactics are against the founding
principles of the US. He does this by using is authority and mentioning basic human rights. He speaks a
lot out of the reputation of his own character, as well as his own personal experience being a prisoner of
war. McCain continuously demands the release of information regarding the tactics of the enhanced
interrogation techniques saying that it was not only a tactic that didnt produce results but also
degraded our reputation as a country. The statement is about how the use of such tactics are unethical
and represent us poorly as a nation. It also includes a statement that these forms of interrogation do not
lead to releasing of information.

FLOOR STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE REPORT ON CIA
INTERROGATION METHODS sheds light on the tactics being used by the US in order to persuade young
patriotic republicans to support him in getting rid of such techniques. The senator does this through the
use of logos, pathos, and egos. Primarily in the given statement he exercises his use of egos quite
drastically given he was a former war hero and prisoner of war. He spoke on his personal experiences
throughout the text being held captive in Vietnam for five and a half years. He goes on to say, I know
from personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence.
Clearly referencing back to his time spent in imprisonment. John continues his statement by speaking on
behalf of all Americans by stating the values and principles that this nation was founded on. He then
heavily uses the use of pathos to speak on emotions and values that united states citizens should uphold
as a greatly respected nation based on the statement that all men are created equal. He says that I
believe the American people have a right indeed, a responsibility to know what was done in their
name; how these practices did or did not serve our interests; and how they comported with our most
important values. He then goes on several other times throughout the statement:

They must know when the values that define our nation are intentionally disregarded by our security
policies, even those policies that are conducted in secret. They must be able to make informed
judgments about whether those policies and the personnel who supported them were justified in
compromising our values; whether they served a greater good; or whether, as I believe, they stained our
national honor, did much harm and little practical good.

When we fight to defend our security we fight also for an idea, not for a tribe or a twisted
interpretation of an ancient religion or for a king, but for an idea that all men are endowed by the
Creator with inalienable rights.

Now, let us reassert the contrary proposition: that is it essential to our success in this war that we ask
those who fight it for us to remember at all times that they are defending a sacred ideal of how nations
should be governed and conduct their relations with others even our enemies.

His use of extremely powerful claims backed by his respect and well known credit as a hero of war and
also as a US Senator are demonstrated repeatedly throughout his statement. He doesnt base his
statement on facts too often and instead relies on his authority. The fact is mentioned by McCain that
the US had joined international conventions to protect captured enemies from such acts and that in fact
the convention was actually authored by the United States. He also brings to light one, but not the only
method of torture used, known as waterboarding. The use of such methods also went against the
Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 that McCain had sponsored and passed the Senate by a vote of 90-9.
This act prohibited the the use of cruel, inhuman, or degrading methods of captured combatants.

Those of us who give them this duty are obliged by history, by our nations highest ideals and the many
terrible sacrifices made to protect them, by our respect for human dignity to make clear we need not
risk our national honor to prevail in this or any war. We need only remember in the worst of times,
through the chaos and terror of war, when facing cruelty, suffering and loss, that we are always
Americans, and different, stronger, and better than those who would destroy us.

Senator John McCain believes that it is our duty, not only as US citizens but also as human beings to
abolish such practices.

Annotated Bibliography

Do Video Games Have Mental Benefits?

Summary of my topic:

I am asking the question: Do video games have beneficial effects on the mind? Upon researching
the topic, I learned that playing video games does indeed have its benefits. There are studies
shown that the playing of video games increases cognitive abilities in both men and women. Not
only that, video games have supported studies showing that they also contribute to increased
hand eye coordination. There are however some points that can be argued that they actually have
a negative impact on the mind. As with anything there is always multiple sides to a story. I am
excited to explore into the depths of the subject and to share my findings.

Gray, Peter. Cognitive Benefits of Playing Video Games. Psychology Today (2007): Web.
19 Nov 2017. Source

Peter Gray, Boston College research professor writes that the bulk of the research
suggests that the claims about negative effects of video gaming are largely myths and the
positive effects are real. In his post he lists multiple research and experiments all leading to the
evidence of the beneficial impact that video games have. In the experiment a group of non-
gamers are taken, half of them take part in the playing of video games over a period of time and
the other half remain non-gamers. After comparing the two groups, the gamers performed better
in every cognitive test thrown at them. The benefits from the experiments did not only stop with
the brain however. The experiments showed improvements in a wide range spanning from
mental health, to eyesight and vision, to even benefits in job related skills. The article really
opens your mind to the numerous benefits video games have and sites several experiments
backing this information. Strictly speaking on the mental benefits, studies have shown that there
were improvements in multitasking and decision making. Those that play video games have
increased mental flexibility. The ability to switch between different tasks very rapidly and with
no error. These individuals also had a greater ability to multitask.

Specktor, Brandon. 8 Reason Video Games Might Just Be Better For You Than Books.
Readers Digest: Web. 19 Nov 2017. https://www.rd.com/health/wellness/health-benefits-of-
video-games/

Brandon Specktor talks about video games and the numerous benefits they have on
mental health. He sources multiple studies done showing the benefits that playing video games
can have. A study he sourced conducted by Brown University shows that playing video games
reduces bad habits. Players were set up to play cooperative games and according to MRI scans of
the participants brains, they were giving off the same reward centers as nicotine does. Another
benefit of listed in the article is that video games can motivate you to exercise. In a study that the
article sources from Stanford University, participants that watched virtual avatars of themselves
exercising had a higher motivation to exercise themselves. According to Jeremy Bailenson, PhD,
watching the avatar gives you a sense of instant weight loss. The ability to see physical results
before you see them in real life and that motivates people. Seeing the changes in the avatar that
resembles you boosted the participants sense of rewards. Physical changes of your own body
often are not noticeable for weeks. With the ability to view instant weight reduction, it really
gave the participants a sense of reward and therefor made them exercise that much harder.

University of Oxford. Tetris used to prevent post-traumatic stress symptoms. Department

of Psychiatry. 3 April 2017. Web. 25 Nov 2017. Source

The study conducted by Oxford University demonstrate how survivors of traumatic events have
benefitted by playing Tetris within 6 hours of the event. The survivors had fewer symptoms
while playing the game. PTSD comes from the flashbacks of reoccurring memories where the
survivor felt that their life or another persons life was in danger. Some common events linked to
PTSD include: war, torture, rape, and car accidents. Their hypothesis was after a trauma,
patients would have fewer intrusive memories if they got to play Tetris as part of a short
behavioural intervention while waiting in the hospital Emergency Department,' says Professor
Holmes. Holmes also says that the game is visually demanding, and they were testing it to see if
the strong visuals of the game disrupted a process called memory consolidation which would
reduce the amount of intrusive memory flashbacks. The study took 71 survivors of vehicle
accidents, half of them played the video game and the other half did not. The survivors that did
play the game did so within 6 hours of the incident while waiting in the emergency department.
Results from the experiment proved the hypothesis correct, concluding that those who received
the treatment had fewer flashbacks and that the intrusions faded more rapidly than those who did
not play the game.

University of Washington Seattle and U.W. Harborview Burn Center. Virtual Reality
Pain Reduction. Aug 2004. Web. 25 Nov 2017. Source

A research conducted and directed by Dr. Nicole Gibran had burn patients from 5 surrounding
states sent to the facility to receive treatment. The overall treatment and quality of life after
surviving the initial burn have improved drastically over the past 20 years but the big problem is
the pain that is associated with the treatments. Studies have shown that while receiving day to
day care that burn patients are suffering from excruciating pain. Patients are given opioids to
reduce pain while undergoing treatment, but the drugs are nowhere near enough to eradicate the
pain. A new method was introduced by Hunter Hoffman and David Patterson in 1996 using the
world of virtual reality in addition to opioids to treat patients. The logic according to the study
behind the use of virtual reality is that pain requires conscious attention. They use the virtual
world to take patients elsewhere while treatment is performed. The use of virtual reality draws
out a lot of attentional resources thus leaving less attention available to process pain signals.
Patients were put into the world of virtual reality while they underwent staple removals and as a
result, the patients experienced far less pain than those who did not have virtual reality. Several
MRI tests were also conducted and significant pain reduction in brain readings while induced in
virtual reality. This proved their theory to be correct, that in fact, virtual reality did aid in the
pain reduction of burn patients.

New Jersey Medical School. Game Boy Is An Effective Approach For Treating Anxiety In
Children About To Undergo Elective Surgery Anesthesiology News. Web. 25 Nov 2017.
Source

An experiment done by researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
have found that the use of hand held video games greatly reduces the anxiety of patients that are
about to undergo operation. The patients were children between the ages of 4 and 12 years old.
The children were given the hand-held devices to play with before the use of general anesthesia.
In past attempts to reduce anxiety, children were allowed to watch television, read stories and
even color in coloring books but none were very useful enough in reducing the childrens
anxiety. Another method that was used was giving the patient oral midazolam so that the child
didnt act out when it came time for the anesthesia. The only problem with that according to Dr.
Bennett is that often times the child gets a drug hangover and the effects last longer than the
anesthesia itself. In the study including 78 children, they were split into 3 groups. One group
with nothing but their parents in the room to cope with the anesthesia. One group was given an
oral dose of midazolam 30 minutes prior to the use of anesthesia. The last group was given a
Gameboy Advance 30 minutes before the use of anesthesia. The researchers conducting the
experiment used the Yale Pre-Operative Anxiety Scale to measure the anxiety of patients. Using
the scale, the median in change in anxiety for the Game Boy group was 0. Meanwhile the
midazolam group scored a 7.5 followed by the parent group that scored a 17.5. Speaking from
personal experience I was actually involved in a bad accident knocking out my front row of
permanent teeth and had to undergo several surgeries in order to fix my mouth. In one operation
they did not give me anything before the use of anesthetics. As a result, my anxiety sky rocketed,
and I freaked out. They had to get multiple staff members to hold me down while they strapped
me to the table and applied anesthetics through a gas mask. With my arms and legs tied down,
the only thing I could move was my head, which I still fought with persistently. Unfortunately, I
inhaled enough gas to knock me out with my head still off the table and the last thing I remember
was the ring of metal as my head smacked into the table. I woke up from the surgery with a
terrible headache. In another operation I was given a console to play with before the anesthesia
was given and was also allowed to play while I was breathing the anesthetics. I fell asleep
seamlessly and pleasantly. I honestly dont even remember falling asleep, one minute I was
playing Super Mario and the next minute I was waking up from a successful procedure.

Krueger, Frank. Positive Association of Video Game Playing with Left Frontal Cortical
Thickness in Adolescents. PLOS ONE. 2014 Mar 14. Web. 25 Nov 2017. Source

A group of 25 scientists from Europe and North America conducted survey that announced that
participants that play 9 or more hours a day had more gray matter volume. The participants had
more gray matter for processing rewards. The scientists found through this experiment that
people that trained with the use of video games had cortical thickness in their brains. This means
that the participants had an increase in attention span, memory and special resolution and spatial
skills. The participants also showed a higher level of cognitive abilities such as: task switching,
working memory, and reasoning. Video games are also able to enhance surgical performance.
The experiment was conducted to see if there was a link between video game playing and
increased cortical thickness. The test group consisted of 54 girls and 72 boys. The results came
back showing that on average, those who spend more than 12 hours of time in the week had an
increase in cortical thickness. Cortical thickness is often the indicator of someones cognitive
ability. Alzheimers is actually described as cortical thinning. This means that people that do
game have more brain power and stronger cognitive ability than those who do not play video
games.

Tai, Janice Playing Games On Your Smartphone 'A Good Move': NTU Study Breaking
News Singapore. Jun 3 2013. Web 25 Nov 2017. Source

Janice Tai writes, playing smartphone games an hour a day can improve brain performance. She
sources a research experiment done by the Nanyang Technological University have found that
playing video games can boost social awareness as well as enhancing visual search tasks. This
article shows how different types of video games have different effects. They asked five
undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University took a group of 75 participants. Some
were chosen to play an action game while the others were chosen to play games on their phones.
The participants that played the action video game were able to track multiple items while the
other participants received a boost in visual search tasks. It was also shown back in 2007 that
when surgeons played 3 or more hours of video games a week, their overall skill level went up
and created better surgeons.

Franceschini, Sandro. Action Video Games Make Dyslexic Children Read Better.
Current Biology. Feb 28 2013. Web. 25 Nov 2017. Source

Viewpoint Synthesis

Do Video Games Have Mental Benefits?

Do video games have beneficial effects on the mind? Upon researching the topic, I learned that
playing video games does indeed have its benefits. There are studies shown that the playing of
video games increases cognitive abilities in both men and women. Not only that, video games
have supported studies showing that they also contribute to increased hand eye coordination.
There are however some points that can be argued that they actually have a negative impact on
the mind. As with anything there is always multiple sides to a story. I am excited to explore into
the depths of the subject and to share my findings.

[1] Peter Gray, Boston College research professor writes that the bulk of the research
suggests that the claims about negative effects of video gaming are largely myths and the
positive effects are real. In his post he lists multiple research and experiments all leading to the
evidence of the beneficial impact that video games have. In the experiment a group of non-
gamers are taken, half of them take part in the playing of video games over a period of time and
the other half remain non-gamers. After comparing the two groups, the gamers performed better
in every cognitive test thrown at them. The benefits from the experiments did not only stop with
the brain however. The experiments showed improvements in a wide range spanning from
mental health, to eyesight and vision, to even benefits in job related skills. The article really
opens your mind to the numerous benefits video games have and sites several experiments
backing this information. Strictly speaking on the mental benefits, studies have shown that there
were improvements in multitasking and decision making. Those that play video games have
increased mental flexibility. The ability to switch between different tasks very rapidly and with
no error. These individuals also had a greater ability to multitask.

[2] Brandon Specktor talks about video games and the numerous benefits they have on
mental health. He sources multiple studies done showing the benefits that playing video games
can have. A study he sourced conducted by Brown University shows that playing video games
reduces bad habits. Players were set up to play cooperative games and according to MRI scans of
the participants brains, they were giving off the same reward centers as nicotine does. Another
benefit of listed in the article is that video games can motivate you to exercise. In a study that the
article sources from Stanford University, participants that watched virtual avatars of themselves
exercising had a higher motivation to exercise themselves. According to Jeremy Bailenson, PhD,
watching the avatar gives you a sense of instant weight loss. The ability to see physical results
before you see them in real life and that motivates people. Seeing the changes in the avatar that
resembles you boosted the participants sense of rewards. Physical changes of your own body
often are not noticeable for weeks. With the ability to view instant weight reduction, it really
gave the participants a sense of reward and therefor made them exercise that much harder.

The study conducted by [3] Oxford University demonstrate how survivors of traumatic events
have benefitted by playing Tetris within 6 hours of the event. The survivors had fewer symptoms
while playing the game. PTSD comes from the flashbacks of reoccurring memories where the
survivor felt that their life or another persons life was in danger. Some common events linked to
PTSD include: war, torture, rape, and car accidents. Their hypothesis was after a trauma,
patients would have fewer intrusive memories if they got to play Tetris as part of a short
behavioral intervention while waiting in the hospital Emergency Department,' says Professor
Holmes. Holmes also says that the game is visually demanding, and they were testing it to see if
the strong visuals of the game disrupted a process called memory consolidation which would
reduce the amount of intrusive memory flashbacks. The study took 71 survivors of vehicle
accidents, half of them played the video game and the other half did not. The survivors that did
play the game did so within 6 hours of the incident while waiting in the emergency department.
Results from the experiment proved the hypothesis correct, concluding that those who received
the treatment had fewer flashbacks and that the intrusions faded more rapidly than those who did
not play the game.

A research conducted and directed by [4] Dr. Nicole Gibran had burn patients from 5
surrounding states sent to the facility to receive treatment. The overall treatment and quality of
life after surviving the initial burn have improved drastically over the past 20 years but the big
problem is the pain that is associated with the treatments. Studies have shown that while
receiving day to day care that burn patients are suffering from excruciating pain. Patients are
given opioids to reduce pain while undergoing treatment, but the drugs are nowhere near enough
to eradicate the pain. A new method was introduced by Hunter Hoffman and David Patterson in
1996 using the world of virtual reality in addition to opioids to treat patients. The logic according
to the study behind the use of virtual reality is that pain requires conscious attention. They use
the virtual world to take patients elsewhere while treatment is performed. The use of virtual
reality draws out a lot of attentional resources thus leaving less attention available to process
pain signals. Patients were put into the world of virtual reality while they underwent staple
removals and as a result, the patients experienced far less pain than those who did not have
virtual reality. Several MRI tests were also conducted and significant pain reduction in brain
readings while induced in virtual reality. This proved their theory to be correct, that in fact,
virtual reality did aid in the pain reduction of burn patients.

An experiment done by researchers at the [5] University of Medicine and Dentistry of New
Jersey have found that the use of hand held video games greatly reduces the anxiety of patients
that are about to undergo operation. The patients were children between the ages of 4 and 12
years old. The children were given the hand-held devices to play with before the use of general
anesthesia. In past attempts to reduce anxiety, children were allowed to watch television, read
stories and even color in coloring books but none were very useful enough in reducing the
childrens anxiety. Another method that was used was giving the patient oral midazolam so that
the child didnt act out when it came time for the anesthesia. The only problem with that
according to Dr. Bennett is that often times the child gets a drug hangover and the effects last
longer than the anesthesia itself. In the study including 78 children, they were split into 3 groups.
One group with nothing but their parents in the room to cope with the anesthesia. One group was
given an oral dose of midazolam 30 minutes prior to the use of anesthesia. The last group was
given a Gameboy Advance 30 minutes before the use of anesthesia. The researchers conducting
the experiment used the Yale Pre-Operative Anxiety Scale to measure the anxiety of patients.
Using the scale, the median in change in anxiety for the Game Boy group was 0. Meanwhile the
midazolam group scored a 7.5 followed by the parent group that scored a 17.5. Speaking from
personal experience I was actually involved in a bad accident knocking out my front row of
permanent teeth and had to undergo several surgeries in order to fix my mouth. In one operation
they did not give me anything before the use of anesthetics. As a result, my anxiety sky rocketed,
and I freaked out. They had to get multiple staff members to hold me down while they strapped
me to the table and applied anesthetics through a gas mask. With my arms and legs tied down,
the only thing I could move was my head, which I still fought with persistently. Unfortunately, I
inhaled enough gas to knock me out with my head still off the table and the last thing I remember
was the ring of metal as my head smacked into the table. I woke up from the surgery with a
terrible headache. In another operation I was given a console to play with before the anesthesia
was given and was also allowed to play while I was breathing the anesthetics. I fell asleep
seamlessly and pleasantly. I honestly dont even remember falling asleep, one minute I was
playing Super Mario and the next minute I was waking up from a successful procedure.

[6] A group of 25 scientists from Europe and North America conducted survey that announced
that participants that play 9 or more hours a day had more gray matter volume. The participants
had more gray matter for processing rewards. The scientists found through this experiment that
people that trained with the use of video games had cortical thickness in their brains. This means
that the participants had an increase in attention span, memory and special resolution and spatial
skills. The participants also showed a higher level of cognitive abilities such as: task switching,
working memory, and reasoning. Video games are also able to enhance surgical performance.
The experiment was conducted to see if there was a link between video game playing and
increased cortical thickness. The test group consisted of 54 girls and 72 boys. The results came
back showing that on average, those who spend more than 12 hours of time in the week had an
increase in cortical thickness. Cortical thickness is often the indicator of someones cognitive
ability. Alzheimers is actually described as cortical thinning. This means that people that do
game have more brain power and stronger cognitive ability than those who do not play video
games.

[7] Janice Tai writes, playing smartphone games an hour a day can improve brain performance.
She sources a research experiment done by the Nanyang Technological University have found
that playing video games can boost social awareness as well as enhancing visual search tasks.
This article shows how different types of video games have different effects. They asked five
undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University took a group of 75 participants. Some
were chosen to play an action game while the others were chosen to play games on their phones.
The participants that played the action video game were able to track multiple items while the
other participants received a boost in visual search tasks. It was also shown back in 2007 that
when surgeons played 3 or more hours of video games a week, their overall skill level went up
and created better surgeons.

[8] In this research experiment, a group of kids with dyslexia were taken and were trained with
non-action video games, or action video games for nine sessions of 80 minutes per day. These
children were given a reading, phonological, and attention tests before and after these all the
sessions were over. The findings of the experiment were that not only did the sessions improve
the reading speed of the dyslexic children, it improved the speed without taking away reading
accuracy. The tests also concluded that these children had increased attentional skills as well.
They found that these sessions increased the childrens abilities more than it would take one year
of proper traditional treatment sessions for dyslexia would take. The reason that this works is that
playing video games increases an individuals attentional abilities. According to the research
team, one of the core problems for children with dyslexia is their attentional dysfunction.
Attentional abilities allow us to connect the sight, and sound of the word. With attentional
dysfunction the researchers say that the ability to learn is slowed with traditional methods of
reading since it does not also increase attention span where as video games do. They believe that
this could play a key role in the learning process.

I have grown up playing video games since I was a young child and still do play them to this
day. I do believe that video games have many health benefits and as technology advances, I
believe that society will move even closer to an online world. Through the use of video games
there are many things we can explore, and the sources listed above are just a few examples of
what is possible.

Work Cited

1. Gray, Peter. Cognitive Benefits of Playing Video Games. Psychology Today (2007): Web.
19 Nov 2017. Source
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