Young Gamers Are Little Monkeys

Children who play video games have minds that are no more complex than those of chimpanzees. At least, that’s what seems to be implied by the BBC and scientists at Emory University, Atlanta.

The BBC have reported on their website how scientists at EU have described, in the Royal Society journal, how they observed chimps imitating a yawning animation. They believe they have proof that the on – screen animated yawning chimp encouraged the real chimps to yawn more than they otherwise would have. Yeah, okay, but why are we reporting this here? Because lead author of the study Doctor Campbell was quoted as saying:

“There’s a lot of concern about children and what they see on TV and the video games they play, so one possibility is to look at what factors in animations promote more or less imitation in non-humans”

The BBC chose to concentrate on the implications for video games. Funny that.

So basically, children are no less likely to copy what they see on-screen than are chimpanzees? This was never explicitly stated in the report, but it certainly seems to be implied; and would be a gross oversimplification of the facts. It is certainly undeniable, however, that imitation plays a vital role in the development of young children. What age children the scientists were thinking of however, was not specified.

Perhaps this study simply confirms what we all know; when you see somebody yawn, you often have the urge to yawn yourself? Hey, we’re just saying….