The holiday season is here with us and many people face the challenge of choosing the best gifts for their loved ones. If you have gamers in your life, there are various video games available that fit various people, from younger players to the more seasoned veterans, which cover light party games to those that may take many hours to fully finish. If you are wondering if you should gift video games or not, then the answer is a definite yes. This post looks at 5 top reasons to gift video games this holiday season.
1. Video Games Improve Basic Visual Processes
One major reason to gift video games this holiday season is their ability to improve visual contrast sensitivity. Playing a video game for about 50 hours (spread over 10-12 weeks) improves visual contrast sensitivity where players are seen to have the ability to tell between subtle differences in colors.
Playing video games has also been proved to successfully treat amblyopia, (also known as “lazy eye”) which is a disorder that arises from early childhood where one eye becomes basically non-functional. Regular video game play can treat this condition where the player can play or do other things such as watching television or knitting with the good eye covered. Great improvements can be made from these games and the player is likely to show normal or near-normal functioning of the “bad eye”.
2. Video Games Improve Executive Functioning
Executive functioning refers to one’s ability to allot their mental resources (like attention, memory, perception) in ways that allow for fast, efficient decision making or problem-solving. Video game play improves one’s ability to engage in several tasks simultaneously. If a loved one has trouble multitasking, consider buying them a video game this holiday season and you will be thankful you did.
Also, another reason you should gift video games is their ability to reverse mental decline that comes with aging. Cognitive flexibility, working memory, abstract reasoning and attention all tend to decline with age. Buying an elderly loved one this gift is a sure way to improve all of these abilities.
3. Video Games Improve Attention And Vigilance
If you are still wondering why you should gift video games this season, then you should know this gift improves the ability to track moving objects in a field of distractors. For instance, action games improve the ability of adults and children to keep track of a set of moving objects visually identical to added moving objects in the visual field.
Also, playing video games overcomes dyslexia. In some cases, dyslexia seems to originate from issues of visual attention. If you have a dyslexic child in your family, then consider buying them this gift as it is likely to improve their scores on reading and phonology tests.
4. Video Games Help Ease Pain
It is common to try to distract yourself from pain by paying attention to another thing or focusing on another body mechanism. However, that is not the only reason why video game play is a great post-injury prescription. Playing these games can actually cause the production of an analgesic (pain-killing) response in your higher cortical systems. If you have a loved one in some kind of pain, consider gifting them a video game this holiday season.
5. Video Games Improve Job-Related Skills
Video games are a great gift this holiday season as they improve job performance, particularly for jobs that require excellent working memory, good eye-hand coordination, attention, and fast decision-making. You will notice that video gamers are likely to be better than non-gamers in the ability to fly as well as land aerial drones and are basically as good as qualified pilots on this skill.
If you have children or grandchildren in college, help them become better at their job by buying them this gift. Also, if you have loved ones who are pilots, surgeons or in any other job that requires attention, good working memory, and good eye-hand coordination, then buying them a video game gift will help them become better at their job.
Video games are a great gift for both children and adults. There are different games in the market to fit different categories of consumers. Remember, video games will not only entertain your loved ones, they will also give them several healthy benefits.
The post Reasons to Gift Video Games This Holiday Season appeared first on beyondthepillars.com.
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