**4. Concluding remarks**

132 Current Topics in Children's Learning and Cognition

**3.4. Neural processing** 

**3.5. Uncertainties** 

help brain impaired persons cope with the handicap.

pertaining to the interaction with other players. Games thus play on the senses to make one's mind pliable to accommodate concepts and to adapt to changing situations. This adaptation also has to do with playing back on the memories of prior experiences, which should be fostered by improved memory processing in the game users shown in the present study. Furthermore, gaming facilitates the thinking process by trying to work things out in the head on the basis of the representation in the mind of the actions contained in the game. Enhanced conceptual thinking and logical reasoning in the gamers go hand in hand with the overall improved thinking process. The multitask games develop a mind frame for taking into account multiple aspects of a problem to solve it; a feature named decentering in the Piagetian classification of mental operations. Finally, games enhance the ability to shift away from one action to another, all of which takes place under pressure of time and interaction with other players, which forces out decisiveness in action, an additional element liable to drive cognitive enhancement. Put it in another way, the video game players are called upon using earlier learned abilities and upon performing concrete operations which they would not have undertaken otherwise, which brings to light the players' untapped cognitive potential. Video gaming enhances what, in general terms, is called psychological maturity.

Contemporary neurophysiological research, unavailable at the time of Piaget, lends credence to the functional brain changes above outlined. Cognitive fitness has to do with coordinated synchronization of neural activity in different, often anatomically remote, brain areas. The better the temporal and spatial neuronal integration the better is the cognitive performance (for a review see Singer, 1999; Varela et al., 2001; Uhlhaas & Singer, 2006). Although neurophysiological data are discordant, for instance, attentional processing occurring with complex task training is ascribed alternately to lower frequency alpha (Maclin et al., 2011) or higher frequency beta range (Singer, 1999) in EEG recordings, the necessity for a large-scale synchronization of neural activity to accomplish the task is beyond a question. The multitask actions, typical for the video game, like the one presented in this article, require a parallel processing of multisensory inputs. Repetitive use of video games is thus bound to increase the attention and task-dependent correlates of cognition, such as conscious and purposeful stimulus selection and processing or operative memory. These processes, in turn, enhance 'cognitive reserve', the term coined for the ability to optimize performance of currently functioning neuronal substrate when coping with excessive task demands in healthy individuals or to recruit alternate 'reserve' substrate not normally used in case of diseased individuals with brain damage (Stern, 2002). The applicability of the notion of 'cognitive reserve' to video games' effects has practical implications, such as the game training might

Research on psychological role of video games is subject to frequent methodological flaws and the presented work is no exception. The participants were cross-sectional. The gamers This article describes the associations between playing the video games and psychological health. Commercial video games apparently offer an unintentional cognitive training, which makes them a psychomotor rehabilitation tool. Video games may supplement rehabilitative strategies in pathological conditions that affect adults, such as psychiatric and psychological disorders, including depression and neurodegenerative conditions in which cognitive performance and memory suffer or which may be accompanied by disordered thinking and decision-making (Gleichgerrcht et al., 2010). To this end, video games may also counter a natural cognitive decline of aging (Foos & Sarno, 1998). Future research should explore the best ratio of regularity, time and effort put into playing the games to achieve the maximum effectiveness of cognitive self-training. Finding the right proportions will enable the rehabilitators to advocate natural or prescribed use of video games for cognitive enhancement.

Video games are often degraded to unwise activity and loss of time from the intellectual standpoint. We submit that negative attitudes toward the video games are not substantiated or are due to parental overreactions. Young persons should be motivated to start gaming activity and not to overuse it. The use of video games also may become part of educational adolescent activity. It seems hardly achievable to make young persons stop playing the games, and in the light of the presented research it may actually be undesirable to do so. To the contrary, when appropriately used, widely popular games can be utilized as a valuable tool for cognitive training. The positive effects of playing the games stand in opposition to an often held view by the lay public that games, particularly those of aggressive genre, are maleficent. Instead, playing the video games should be knowledgeably used to effectively support psychological health

Psychological Fitness in Young Adult Video Game Players 135

Endler N.S. & J.D.A. Parker. (1999). *Coping inventory for stressful situations (CISS): Manual* 

Eysenck S.B.G., H.J. Eysenck & Barrett P. (1985). A revised version of the psychoticism scale.

Ferguson C.J. (2007). The good, the bad and the ugly: A meta-analytic review of positive and

Foos P. & Sarno A. (1998). Adult age differences in semantic and episodic memory. *J Genet* 

Frostling-Henningsson M. 2009. First-person shooter games as a way of connecting to

Gleichgerrcht E., Ibáñez A., Roca M., Torralva T. & Manes F. (2010). Decision-making

Gray G. & Nikolakakos T. (2007). The self-regulation of virtual reality: Issues of voluntary compliance and enforcement in the video game industry. *Can J Law Soc* 22(1): 93-108. Green C.S. & Bavelier D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention.

Griffiths M. (1999). Violent video games and aggression: A review of the literature. *Aggress* 

Hastings E., Karas T., Winsler A., Way E., Madigan A. &Tyler S. (2009). Young children's video/computer game use: relations with school performance and behavior. *Issues Ment* 

Kestenbaum G.I. & Weinstein L. (1985). Personality, psychopathology, and developmental issues in male adolescent video game use. *J Am Acad Child Psychiatry* 24(3): 329-333. Maclin E.L., Mathewson K.E., Low K.A., Boot W.R., Kramer A.F., Fabiani M. & Gratton G. (2011). Learning to multitask: Effects of video game practice on electrophysiological

Mentzoni R.A., Brunborg G.S., Molde H., Myrseth H., Skouverøe K.J., Hetland J. & Pallesen S. (2011). Problematic video game use: estimated prevalence and associations with

Papastergiou M. (2009). Exploring the potential of computer and video games for health and

Phillips N. (2004). Interactive digital software ASS'N v. St. Louis County: the first amendment and minors' access to violent video games. *Berkeley Technol Law J.* Annual

Piaget J. *The Essential Piaget.* (1997). Gruber H. E. & Jacques Vonèche J. (Eds.), New York:

Remo C. (2008). Analysis: Valve's lifetime retail sales for half-life, counter-strike franchises. Gamasutra. Available from: www.gamasutra.com/phpbin/news\_index.php?story=2139 Singer W. (1999). Neuronal synchrony: A versatile code of the definition of relations? *Neuron*

indices of attention and resource allocation. *Psychophysiology* 48(9): 1173-83.

mental and physical health. *Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw* 14(10): 591-6.

physical education: A literature review. *Comput Educ* 53(3): 603-622.

negative effects of violent video games. *Psychiatr Q* 78(4): 309-316.

cognition in neurodegenerative diseases. *Nat Rev Neurol* 6(11): 611-623.

people 'brothers in blood'. *Cyberpsychol Behav* 12(5): 557-562.

Kent S.L. (2001). *The Ultimate History of Video Games*. San Val Inc, US.

(Revised edition)*.* Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.

*Pers Individ Dif* 6(1): 21-29.

*Psychol* 159(3): 297-312.

*Nature* 423(6939): 534-7.

*Violent Behav* 4(2): 203-12.

*Health Nurs* 30(10): 638-649.

Review 19(1): 585-611.

Basic Books.

24(1): 49-65.

*The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare in relation to this article.* 
