Gaming Brainpower

One of the major advantages of playing Video Games is that it stimulates the human brain in gamers of all ages. Gaming is a fully interactive endeavor as one does not only watch, read, and listens, but one has to react and interact with the game itself. To this, the brain and its ancillary functions like cognition, reasoning, visualization, and other input and computing activities, continues to exercise both the brain cells and the flow of neurons and electrical impulses in one's brain.

Gaming places the brain in an active and focused state and in much younger gamers with much younger brains, this is one activity that stimulates the grey matter to form more new connections (synapse), thus continually forming and strengthening the structure of the brain. What's more, exercising one's thinking and reaction abilities propagates the continual flow of neurons and electrical energy in the brain. So, just like in the "Matrix", humans are organic batteries.

Younger Brain, Active Brain

A person’s age indicates a lot of things, not only in the physical state and structure of a person’s being, but generally in the way that one thinks. Both young and older brains have their own set of advantages and limitations. One may have less organization and structure but is continually growing and expanding while the other has usually reached its peak and has a more stable formed structure. The younger is more active and intense while the older is much more mellow and efficient.

Younger brains are continually growing and undergoing rapid development, this means rapid remodeling of the brain structure and pruning of the neural networks. This is to build efficiency over time and create specialized circuitry, and the reason why a child’s brain is 2 or 3 times active than that of an adult. A young person may be less aware but the brain at this stage is forming over 1 million new nerve connections every second. Here are some points or neurochemical reasons why younger brains are way more active and alive than older ones.

To begin with, younger brains have higher neuroplasticity, they can flexibly reorganize themselves through new experiences. Older brains will simply say “been there, done that”, so to them, there is no more new connection to generate. Younger brains produce more nerve cells than they need, so it’s a continual process of removing no longer needed cells. This is a highly active and energy intensive process that strengthens the neural networks of the brain also known as “Synaptogenesis”. This usually last to around the age of 25.

The younger the brain, the more active the production of “Myelin”, a fatty substance that covers nerve fibers. This speeds up the transmission of messages (Synaptic electrical flow) across the brain. This results in rapid learning (a kid’s brain is like a sponge), and faster, although less rational information processing. They see it, but not fully understand it yet.

Younger brains are highly susceptible and a way lot more sensitive to Dopamine. This boosters their reward seeking and learning from experiences and are more drawn to the more emotional and reward areas of the brain like the “Limbic System”, before the more rational and decision-making area of the brain, the “Prefrontal Cortex”, that adult brains do. This is why younger people have less inhibitions and are more carefree than older people who make slower, more calculated moves.

Younger Brains Enjoy Gaming More

Now that we have an idea regarding the difference in having a younger brain and an older one, let’s examine why the young grandson is jumping up and down in front of the game, while grandpa is mildly looking on though smiling a lot.

The first is Novelty and Imagination. When you’re young, everything is new. There are few to no reference points to compare and your imagination bridges the gap to make the game super immersive. Also, for a child or youth, the limitations of adult responsibilities (like work, bills to pay, important things to do, as well as time limitations) are not yet existent, thus enabling the brain to fully focus and achieve a state of flow difficult if not impossible as an adult.

As a teen, one’s brain (as mentioned) is highly receptive to dopamine, so rewards and experiences are deep and long-lasting enjoyment and emotions that results from the explorations involved in gaming.

There are also some reasons why adults and seniors today enjoyed gaming when they were young, and have something to do with the gaming trends of the day. One is the lack of instant gratification because games back then usually required the build-up of skill through repetition. Leveling-up provided a deep sense of achievement in contrast with many of today’s games (like Casual Games in general) that provide constant rewards, which feel less rewarding over time.

What’s more, games back then where harder to navigate as gamers often had to draw maps of their own (usually on graphing paper or math notebooks) just to remember things like where the exit or entrance in the particular location is. These discoveries felt more like personal achievements for the gamer.

The last 2 paragraphs are more “periodic” reasons as to why one enjoyed gaming during one’s younger days like the late 70s or the 1980s. Just the same though, younger gamers will always have the edge in discovering brand new experiences like the “Sonic Generations Collection”, and enjoying them to the fullest.

Image Info:
https://pixabay.com/photos/children-win-success-video-game-593313/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/71340/Sonic_Generations_Collection/