Your Mind On Video Games

James Gee's, a professor of learning sciences at the University of Wisconsin, interest was piqued when he first played his son's game Pajama Sam and when he got The Adventures of the Time Machine. He began to sense that something interesting was going on inside his brain as he struggled with the puzzles in his game. "I hadnt done that kind of new learning since graduate school. You know, as you get older, you kind of rest on your laurels: You learn certain patterns, you know your field, and you get a lot of experience. But this requires you to think in a new way. I saw that the excitement of this is the challenge and the difficulty and the new learning. That's what makes it fun!"
Gee and other researchers have started researching how video games affect cognition. They have even gone as far as to say that gaming might be mentally enriching. They agree that gaming id addictive and have even started to prove how they are addictive. But they also have begun to recognize the cognitive benefits of video games such as pattern recognition, system thinking, even practice. This new research has even the idea that gaming could be exercising the mind the way physical activity exercises the body. Of course this greatly contriditcs the theory that gamers have Attention Deficit Dissorder and suggests that they have better focus, more patience, develop a willingness to delay gratification and prioritize scarce resources.
In the early 1990s, Richard Haier, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Irvine, tracked cerebral glucose metabolic rates in the brains of people who were playing Tetris. Glucose rates show how much energy the brain is using which shows how much work the brain is doing. A month later he tested the same people but found that their glucose levels had decreased. It appeared that they were so good that they barely had to work. Gee says this was because of the "regime of competence" principle which is something that is perfect fo the mind of an individual to accomplish. For instance schools use this principle: when work is too hard, students won't work, when it is too easy they get bored.
Gee theorizes that the way gamers explore the virtual world is exactly the sane way our brains explore the real world. He says "Basically, how we think is through running perceptual simulations in our heads that prepare us for the actions we're going to take. By modeling those simulations, video games externalize how the mind works." Most media does not apply the regime of competence principle but video games do. Even something as basic as Pong gets harder as the player improves. Gee's hypothesis, if prove true, leaves us with one question: Do the skills learned in the virtual world translate into the real one?

I think that Gee's theory is interesting and has at least one truth to it. I am sure that it would help with pattern recognition and solving them. I disagree that it does not cause attention problems. I know personally that video games cause people to focus less and become more distracted by flashy things. I also think it is unwise to be sitting around "exercising your mind" and not you physical body.

http://discovermagazine.com/2205/jul/brain-on-video-games/?searchterm=Video Games

Red Wine: Elixir Of Life?

http://www.firstscience.com/home/articles/humans/red-wine-elixir-of-life_16117.html


When it comes down to alcohol, you have probably heard that red wine is the right way to go. Red wine could actually have health benefits. The benefits of drinking red wine seemed to could have helped French people. The ‘French Paradox’ was officially accepted in 1992, after researchers were able to conclude that even though the consumption of eating a diet high in saturated fats, the French people had a 40% lower mortality rate from heart disease. This is only the beginning of the health benefits that red wine is able to produce. Red wine has been shown by studies that it can prevent cancer, condense the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and possibly help cure asthma and gum disease.
Red wine is found to possess antioxidant compounds known as polyphenols, which are able to be produced by breaking up the skins and seeds of grapes by the alcohol formed during fermentation. White wine does seem to have polyphenols present in it as well, but does not contain as many as red wine. Because the skins of grapes are removed in order to make white wine, it therefore does not contain as many polyphenols. A specific compound called resveratrol has been labeled for heart disease and cancer prevention. White wines hold a merely 1-5% of the resveratrol present in red wines.
Studies propose that these particular polyphenols can condense strain on blood vessels and extent the amount of time for blood clots to form, which can cause heart attacks and strokes. A study that was published in the British Medical Journal in January 2006, established that wine drinkers usually contain a healthier diet and lifestyle. More studies conducted by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston proved to show that men with these healthy lifestyles who drink around one and a half and two drinks a day had a 40-60% reduced risk of a heart attack when balanced with healthy non-drinkers.
The list of benefits continues when you consume red wine. Research done at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle; found that if you drink a glass of red wine a day, the risk of having prostate cancer may perhaps be halved. Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan proved that reasonable use of the particular red wine Cabernet Sauvignon may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s. Epidemiological evidence, within boundaries of one drink per day for women and two drinks a day for men, may reduce the comparative risk of clinical dementia, which is strongly linked with Alzheimer’s disease.
Not everything about red wine is positive; there are some negative sides to drinking it. Research has been shown that red wine does not hold back the immune system. Janet Stanford of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center says that moderate consumption should be carefully watched. Improper consumption can cause liver disease and dental erosion and mouth cancer.
The elements of red wine have not been shown to prevent or cure any disease in humans. For the time being, while studies are being conducted, the ordinary glass of red wine can’t really do harm, but might actually do some good.
I enjoyed reading this article. It has been able to teach me many facts that I never knew about red wine and the benefits of drinking it. I thought that wine wasn't necessarily bad for you, but also didnt know that it was really good for you either. This was a good choice to read this article. So many new things were learned when i read this.