Post Traumatic Stress Disorders: A Literature Review

Video games like other media such as rock and music have been the subject of controversies and censorship throughout the years. For instance the depictions of violence, criminal activities, sexual themes, alcohol, tobacco and other drugs associated with some video games having created objections. Critics of video games include parents' groups, some scientists and other advocacy groups. These groups claim that some video games cause addiction or violent behavior. However one can find research to support the positive effects of video games on the development on the brain. Much like exercise can build muscle, the powerful combination of concentration and rewarding surges of neurotransmitters like dopamine strengthen neural circuits that can

In comparison to a control group, the video gaming group showed increases of gray matter, which houses the cell bodies of nerve cells in the brain. The researchers predict that the benefits of video gaming could be helpful in therapeutic interventions targeting psychiatric disorders. “Study leader, Simone Kühn and her colleagues believe that video games could be a useful tool for treating patients with mental health problems in which brain regions are altered or reduced in size, such as: schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's dementia”(Christopher Bergland). There is much interest in understanding the factors that promote learning and brain plasticity. This specificity is best illustrated in the field of

Many studies have focused on cognitive differences of video game players, as a group, in comparison to non-gamers. Although observational studies are essential for studying, it is also important to examine video game training itself, and the potential causal influences of video gaming on novice players' cognition. Prior experimental investigation of the cognitive consequences of video gaming provides evidence that cognitive and perceptual changes occur in those who transition from non-gamers to gamers. Playing action game has been linked to enhanced core perceptual processing. Action video game novices assigned to action video game training experience a number of benefits, including higher contrast sensitivity, faster visual information processing , expanded useful field of view , and logical comprehension. This array of studies is a promising indication that video game training can lead to improvements in cognitive test performance. On the other hand another video game training study carried out on younger adults with little gaming experience did not find improved performance on cognitive testing after video game training on either a real-time strategy game, an action video game, or a puzzle game. Overall, previous work indicates video game play can lead to improvements in both perceptual and cognitive performance. The majority