[NetBehaviour] Video games can make us creative if spark is right.

[marc garrett]

Video games can make us creative if spark is right.

Video games that energize players and induce a positive mood could also 
enhance creativity, according to media researchers. However, the study 
also finds that players who were not highly energized and had a negative 
mood, registered the highest creativity. "You need defocused attention 
for being creative," said S. Shyam Sundar, professor of film, video and 
media studies at Penn State. "When you have low arousal and are 
negative, you tend to focus on detail and become more analytical."

"Video games are not just for entertainment alone," says Sundar. "We are 
trying to figure out how they can aid in education as well."

In the study, conducted as part of Hutton’s graduate thesis, 98 
undergraduate and graduate students were asked to play a popular video 
game, Dance Dance Revolution, at various levels of complexity. The 
students took a standard creativity test after playing. The researchers 
also took readings of the players' skin conductance and asked players if 
they were feeling either positive or negative after the game.

"We looked at two emotional variables: arousal and valence," said 
Hutton. "Arousal is the degree of physical excitation -- as measured 
through skin conductance -- and valence, which is the range of positive 
or negative feeling."

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