Title

How Video games Affect Reaction times and are genres a factor?
Abstract
My friend Garnet and I have always been fans of video games and have enjoyed the
escape to a new world that they provide, but in many situations we are told that these games
that we enjoy so much can affect use in negative ways and make us less stimulated people due
to a fabled effect of these games. I thought that this was an untrue statement and I thought that
it needed to be corrected due to its empty nature. My friend and partner Garnet and I
Questioned if this statement were true which led to the question of this experiment How do
video games affect reaction time and do different genres of video games affect the brains
stimulation differently?.
Having this question in mind we conducted an experiment to see how reaction times are
affected by video games and what genres affect the reaction time differently. We found that
Video games do affect your reaction time and make it faster and more efficient, this proved my
hypothesis and debunked the theory that videogames are bad for you mind.

Introduction - We decided to do this project because we wanted to see if the rumor that video
games are rot your mind and make you a less capable person, we were trying to disprove this
by seeing if video games actually helped stimulate your mind and doesnt affect it negatively. I
think that by proving this people will be more open to having their children play these games
and not think negatively about them. We were also testing to see if different genres of video
games affect people differently, this will help us know if certain things such as more exciting
games help people get stimulated. I believed that the outcome of this experiment would be that
more involved and stressful games would make people have a better reaction time and that
other less stressful more casual games would have slower section times, and that all video
games would have faster reaction times. The data turned out that all the people playing video
games had faster reaction times and the genre didnt really become a factor. Many believe the
same thing such as the people at psychoneuro A study conducted by Simone Khn and
colleagues conducted a study that provides findings to the contrary, and goes even further as
to say that it increases the thickness of certain structures. they thought that video games do
stimulate the mind and give a better reaction time. And the people at, QUOtE HERE, say that
the brain rotting myth is just that a myth, which I believe proves my point even more.
Question and Hypothesis:
We are asking how different genres of video games affect the reaction times of both males and
females OR how reaction times of males and females declines or does not improve with certain
genres or as a whole
If video games make your mind operate differently, than different genres will affect the reaction
time of the player because their minds are stimulated.

Methods & Materials We took 3 male and 3 female students from a 9th grade class that all did
not play video games. We then had them take a benchmark reaction time test (found at this link
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime) before each of the 4 genres we tested
each of them on. Then each student would play the chosen game from that genre for 10
minutes. During this time we attempted to limit outside distractions and gave a minimal amount

of help with each game. After the 10 minute testing period they would take the reaction time test
again, we recorded both results and repeated the process to all 6 students. 1 time for each
genre, 4 total times per student, and 24 total tests between both males and females. After each
test we asked the student what they thought of the game and how it made them feel. We
recorded their individual answers to each game. The control variables we kept constant were,
non video game playing students, limit of distractions, same help to each student, same age
students, 10 minute tests, same treatment (positive reinforcement)
Materials
2 computers
1 mouse
6 9th grade students
Results In this section you should display and summarize all of the relevant
numerical (quantitative) and descriptive (qualitative) data and observations
from your experiment. The data can be displayed in tables, figures (charts
and graphs), images or in text. In this section you should summarize trends
in the data, and also explain any issues with obtaining your results and suggest
potential sources of error.

Discussion The overall purpose of the discussion is to explain what the results from
the experiment are, describe how confident you are in the results and discuss the significance of
the results in regards to your hypothesis. (Here are some suggestions of what to include, not all
of these ideas will apply to every situation)
Restate why the experiment was done and what the expected results were.
Summarize the significant data collected during the experiment.
State the experimental results and use the data summarized in in
the previous section to logically confirm or disprove what you
initially expected. Where applicable offer a logical explanation as to
why the independent variable had or did not have a measurable
effect on the dependent variable. If the lab involved measuring a
known quantity, compare your experimental value to the known
value using a percent error calculation.
Discuss the significance of your results. How important are the
results of this experiment? Discuss how confident you are in your results by discussing the
variability in your data and the potential sources of uncertainty and
error in your experimental design.
Discuss improvements to the experiment that are relevant to the
sources or error and uncertainty you identified. Lastly, discuss
possible further experimentation that is related this investigation. If
you have a new hypothesis after analyzing your results state it and
state how you might test it.
Bibliography

"Playing High-Action Video Games May Speed Up Learning, Studies Say." Education Week.
N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
"Playing Video Games Can Boost Cognition And Reaction Time." Science 2.0. N.p., n.d. Web.
19 Oct. 2015.
"Video Games Speed up Reaction Time - Futurity." Futurity. N.p., 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Oct.
2015.
"Which Video Games Make You Smarter: Action, Puzzle or Strategy?" YouTube. YouTube, n.d.
Web. 19 Oct. 2015.