Hi I’m Elliott. This is Mental Floss on YouTube. Today I’m going to tell you some
misconceptions about video games.
Misconception #1: Video games cause ADHD. This hasn't been studied much, but there’s
still no reason to believe that video games cause Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
One study out of Eastern Michigan University found that young men who already had ADHD
were more likely to report that they frequently played video games while procrastinating.
But the study noticed that women with ADHD were less likely to report that problem. And
that’s all correlation. There’s no evidence that video games CAUSED the disorder.
Misconception #2: There’s a Madden Curse. So, the Madden football video game gets released
every year has had a football player featured on the cover since 1999. People have noticed
that these players tend to have a less impressive season after being chosen for the cover, usually
due to injury.
So this seems to be a case of emphasizing when the “curse” applies and ignoring when
it doesn’t. Players who have gotten injured the season after appearing on the cover include
Garrison Hearst (broken ankle), Shaun Alexander (foot injury), and Peyton Hillis (hamstring
injury). But then there are players like Titans running back Eddie George, who had the best
year of his career after appearing on the cover (though superstitious folks might say
the curse still applied because his team totally lost in the playoffs). And Lions wide receiver
Calvin Johnson, who DID break his fingers, but played through the injury and broke the
single-season receiving record. So Misconcepted... I don't play sports
Misconception #3: Kids make up the majority of the gaming population.
According to one study, around 62% of the console market is made up of adults. And they’re
also about 66% of the PC market. And a 2008 study conducted by Pew Internet & American
Life found that 81% of 18-29 year old Americans played video games. And 23% of people who
are 65 and older play. One out of every 4 grandparents, you guys that's crazy.
Misconception #4: Blowing into a NES cartridge fixes it.
For all you young gamers, this is something that people did way back in the day when their Nintendo Entertainment
System game cartridge wasn’t working. They’d remove it, blow on it, then return it for
(sometimes) better results. There’s no definitive answer for whether or not this worked, but
most experts claim that blowing on the cartridge didn’t do much. Plus, it harmed the games.
The thing that probably helped more was just removing and reinserting the cartridge. But it was so fun to do
Misconception #5: Video games are violent. This is a generalization that a lot of people
make about games, but actually, the majority of them aren’t violent. The Entertainment
Software Rating Board, or ESRB, is responsible for rating games. In 2013, they gave 46% of
games an “Everyone” rating. 19% were “Everyone 10 and up,” 23% were “Teen,” and only
12% of games were given a “Mature” rating. And, for the record, games don’t cause violence
either. Check out our episode on Technology or this episode of Health Care Triage
Misconception #6: Playing video games causes desensitization to violence.
This one might be true, but needs to be studied way more, so I’m going to give you both sides.
In 2011, a study was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. For 25
minutes, the researchers had 70 young adults play a video game -- some played a violent
one and others played a non-violent one. Let's just say Mario (I don't know if that's what it was). Afterwards, both groups were shown violent and non-violent
pictures while their brain wave activity was measured. Those who had played the violent
game had less brain response to violent pictures. So, that points to desensitization.
But, that same year, a study was published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.
Researchers gathered 122 undergraduates, some who had played video games in the previous
six months and some who had never played video games. Then, they showed the volunteers 150
pictures -- some violent and some nonviolent. They hypothesized that if video game players
were truly desensitized to violence, then they’d have more trouble remembering the
violent images than non-video game players. But, the groups were about equal.
Misconception #7: Video games ruin your vision. They’ve actually been shown to improve eyesight.
According to a 2003 study done at the University of Rochester in New York, people who regularly
play video games are better at keeping an eye on multiple things at once. And they’re
able to visually track 30% more items than a non-video game player can.
Misconception #8: Video games make you less smart.
There are studies that show that video games might actually be good for your brain. For
example, a 2013 study conducted in Berlin had a group of adults play Super Mario 64
for thirty minutes every day for two months. Awesome! This group showed more increase of grey matter
in the brain than a control group who did not play video games for those two months.
That increase in grey matter affected the right hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and
cerebellum -- parts of the brain associated with things like memory, fine motor skills,
and spatial intelligence.
Misconception #9: “Donkey Kong” is a mistranslation. Ever wonder why he’s called “Donkey Kong”
when “Monkey Kong” would be a lot more accurate? Well, a lot of people say that he’s
SUPPOSED to be Monkey Kong, but there was a mistranslation between the Japanese and
American words. But that's hard to believe considering the words “monkey” and “donkey”
in Japanese aren’t similar at all. According to the game’s inventor, the name “Donkey
Kong” is totally what he intended, with the “donkey” implying “stubbornness”
and the “Kong” referencing a gorilla.
Misconception #10: There’s no such thing as video game addiction.
This is a relatively new phenomenon, so we don’t know much, but we do know that it’s
real. It is currently in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, under
the category “condition requiring further study.” People who have a video game addiction
have the same symptoms observed in other addictions, including physical withdrawal. That's crazy.
Thanks for watching Misconceptions on Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made with the help
of all these nice people. If you have a topic for an upcoming Misconceptions episode that
you’d like to see, leave it in comments and maybe we'll make it and it'll be awesome See you next week!