Online gambling is a past time that many individuals enjoy on a regular basis. Players will log online from home and take part in casino games via mobile device or laptop to spend a little money on simple entertainment. Online casino gaming is a popular past time as players can enjoy their favorite games and hopefully earn a little cash in the process.
With online casino gaming, players never have to leave home or even put on clothes for that matter. Anyone who has ever played a casino game online knows that it is exciting and fun. One professor at Bristol University is trying to now show that online casino gaming is thrilling as well as an activity that promotes focus.
Paul Howard-Jones works as a professor for the University of Bristol in neuroscience and education. The professor has stated that he would like to see the majority of his lessons taught by using a computer with gambling games. He feels that the games help to promote focus and still give the user a thrill that can be related to a roller coaster ride.
Howard-Jones gained his belief by conducting a study involving 24 postgraduate students. The students were separated in groups of three and started a game online. The teams had to correctly answer a question to gain points. The students would spin a wheel of fortune in the process which would give them the opportunity to double points or lose all of the points earned.
The professor then used a technology involving brain-imaging that would find the brain area that indicates inattention and distraction. He found that this area of the brain was rarely active during game play. The dopamine response of the brain, the area that is associated with the visceral response such as good food, was on high due to the risk and reward value of the game.
The project of Howard-Jones went through six trials to see if neuroscience could improve education processes. The report found that the initial trials proved that gambling technology can be used to ensure the application, analysis and evaluation of the information learned as well as the help with the memorization of facts.
Because of the study, the professor will not integrate his findings into his lesson plans. As many as 10,000 students will be learning science with the wheel-of-fortune game. It was indicated that the game plus study method might work better with younger children as compared to college students as younger children have a higher response to reward and risk, especially around the age of 13 and 14. This could explain why this age group can easily become addicted to video games.
However, allowing a young child of this age to play a casino style game is probably not in their best interests. States and countries already try to stop underage gambling, so starting at this young age to incorporate casino games would not be the best idea. But college age students are responding to the learning method and are old enough to visit a casino or gamble online if they so choose.
The professor believes that the pupil will remain motivated if they have consistent reward strategies but still have quiet time to study as well as independent learning. In his report, Howard-Jones points out that games in the classroom can be trivialized in many cases, but should be taken more seriously as they can have serious effects on the learning capabilities of children.
The study is certainly fascinating and shows how the risk and reward of a casino game can be thrilling but also help the student to focus better on studies, which in the end is the best outcome of all!
