Some preconceived ideas die hard, such as those that assume screens “ destroy ” our brains, irreparably damaging our intellectual abilities. Unscrupulous journalists even put forward a supposedly strong causal link between screen use and a drop in IQ. It is not uncommon to hear parents say that if their children spent less time on their screens, they would do better at school (and see screens as a cause rather than a symptom). Yet within what is called “ reasonable ” use, for learning purposes as well as entertainment, without hiding the real problems that excessive use can cause, video games can be beneficial for brain development.
For example, neuroscience research has shown that certain action video games can help children (from pre-school age to adolescence) improve their cognitive control and flexibility (switching), which are essential for inhibiting “ overlearned ” automatic responses and for the ability to change strategy (some learning difficulties in children being partly linked to this failure of inhibition). Indeed, in video games, it is easy to go back and change your actions, adapting them better to the obstacles that arise. You can also repeat the same action but with different parameters, such as redoing a difficult quest with better equipment. Switching from one character to another, when controlling several characters at the same time, or adjusting your character’s abilities, teaches you to adapt your strategy and fine-tune it, developing your executive skills.
Furthermore, computers and virtual reality (VR), used for play and cultural purposes, are ways of improving the brain’s potential for navigating in space. In a virtual world, one can indeed experience two different points of view: the egocentric point of view (= “which corresponds to the experience of a personal journey”) and the allocentric point of view (= “bird’s-eye or map-like view”). Seeing a world from the allocentric mode allows the brain to make connections that would not necessarily occur naturally in the daily life of an average child, and also lets the child literally step back from their actions even outside the game. Moreover, since VR makes it possible to move between these two points of view, it develops better anticipation of actions and their consequences, in connection with greater spatial flexibility. “Openness to other points of view”, spatial at first, can be transferred to the social domain for greater tolerance of points of view different from one’s own, better coordination in a team, and so on.
Highlighting this positive development of the brain through screens from a biological, neuronal point of view can be a motivation to encourage reasonable use of them : using screens well also means taking care of your brain !
Naëlle Barabé
Bibliography :
JF Bach, O. Houdé, P Léna, S. Tisseron (2013). L’enfant et les écrans – Un Avis de l’Académie des sciences (Children and screens – An Opinion of the Académie des sciences). 108 – 117
