How Playing Call of Duty Can Improve Your Driving Skills
"Playing video games can make you a better driver." That statement probably brings to mind games like Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsports. Sure, these games can teach players the mechanics of driving, especially when using steering wheels and pedal controls, but are they the best at improving driving skills?
Ironically, studies have shown that first-person shooters, like Call of Duty, actually provide more benefits for drivers than driving games do.
One of the most apparent and most cited positive effects of playing video games is improved eye-to-hand coordination. It has almost become a cliché in debates over the positive and negative effects of playing video games and is still hotly debated, despite it seeming like common sense.
Gaming has come a long way from the single-joystick, single-button days of the Atari 2600. Now players have to contend with gamepads featuring dual joysticks and 12 or more buttons.
Growing up through the evolution of controllers, some players likely find using modern devices effortless because they have been using these complicated input mechanisms all their lives. Their eye-to-hand coordination is already conditioned. But is that directly related to playing games or just an environmental factor?
According to a 2014 study by the University of Toronto, playing action-intense video games like Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed did not reliably enhance sensorimotor control (eye-to-hand coordination). However, it did improve sensorimotor learning, meaning gamers were better than non-gamers at performing tasks with a "consistent and predictable structure."
The researchers tested this by having the two groups keep a cursor within a white square as it moved around a computer screen. At first, both groups performed equally. As the participants continued to practice, the gamers showed far better and quicker improvement in keeping the cursor in the square than non-gamers.
It might not seem like keeping a cursor within a square on a computer screen translates well into making one a better driver, but it actually does. It's not about the action that is taking place on the screen, but what is going on in the brain. The cognitive functions and visual acuity are what matters. Realizing the square has changed directions and then altering the course of the cursor before it leaves its confines relates directly to situations where a driver must make a split-second decision to avoid an accident.
The 2014 Toronto study is not the only evidence to show that Call of Duty and similar games can improve skills used in driving. Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Daphne Bavelier at the University of Rochester has spent most of her time studying the cognitive effects of gaming and has some interesting insights into how playing action video games affect players.
In a 2012 TEDx Talk (watch below), Dr. Bavelier debunked a long-held myth that playing video games damage a player's eyesight. It might be intuitive to think that excessive time in front of the screen would harm your vision, but Bavelier says this is simply not true. She and her team have measured eyesight in the lab of gamers and non-gamers, and the former consistently had better vision than the latter -- even those who played up to 15 hours per week tested better than 20/20 vision.
Not only do game players have better visual acuity, but they also have a sharper perception of different shades of gray. Dr. Bavelier analogizes this with an example of driving in a fog.
"The other way that gamers are better is actually being able to resolve different levels of gray," Bavelier said. "Imagine you're driving in the fog. That makes the difference between seeing the car in front of you and avoiding the accident or getting into an accident."
Another myth that runs contrary to her findings is that games lead to attention problems and greater distractibility. Scientists have studied attention for decades, and there are plenty of standard tests to measure it in a quantifiable manner.
Bavelier found that people who play Call of Duty have far better attention than non-players. A simple test they used was to show test subjects colored words and ask them to state the ink color of each word as they appear. Some words introduced a cognitive conflict. For example, the word blue appearing in red ink. Results showed that the gamers were far quicker at resolving those conflicts than those that did not play.
Another attention test involves tracking multiple moving targets. The average person can keep tabs on about three or four objects at once. Action video game players have a span of around six to seven. These results are relatively predictable considering what it takes to play action games like Call of Duty, especially in hectic multiplayer matches. It's a good thing too, since we need to keep that many browser tabs open just to have a shot at scoring a new graphics card these days.
Attention is a critical attribute when driving. Just think of all the things you have to pay attention to at the same time when driving -- the cars in front, behind, and beside you; the children playing near the street up ahead; the color of the traffic signal; your speed; the speed of cross traffic when approaching a green light. There are many things you have to maintain focus on when driving. And lab tests show action gamers are very good at this.
Bavelier's research further confirms the practical testing results with brain imaging. There are three areas of the brain that regulate attention. The parietal lobe controls the orientation of attention. The frontal lobe sustains attention. Lastly, the anterior cingulate controls how we allocate concentration and resolve conflict.
"Now, when we do brain imaging, we find that all three of these networks are actually much more efficient in people that play action games," Bavelier said.
However, we again fall back to the argument of whether these results were directly related to playing games or just common environmental factors. Fortunately, Bavelier considered causality, too, which is easy to test in the lab.
Bavelier and her team performed a controlled training study to establish causality. What they did was have participants take cognitive tests at the start. Then subjects would play 10 hours of action games over two weeks in 40-minute sessions. Subjects then took the same cognitive tests, and the results found that not only did they perform better, but the improvements were still present five months after the training.
The training tests show two things. First, they prove the causality between visual and cognitive improvements when playing video games like Call of Duty. The positive effects are not caused by environmental conditions common to gamers. Second, it shows that training your brain on these games has lasting effects.
Indeed, another study out of Shanghai in 2016 showed that playing high-action titles physically rewires the brain, so the benefits are at least semi-permanent. The researchers wanted to know if playing video games improved practical driving skills. They also wanted to find out whether the type of game mattered.
They tested participants using a driving simulator. One group played action games for 5 to 10 hours, and the other played slower-paced games. The study found that the action players performed markedly better in subsequent simulator testing than the non-action players.
"Our research shows that playing easily accessible action video games for as little as 5 hours can be a cost-effective tool to help people improve essential visuomotor-control skills used for driving," said researcher and co-author of the paper Li Li of New York University Shanghai.
Researchers used Mario Kart and Rollercoaster Tycoon for action and non-action training, respectively. The driving simulator was set up to have participants drive a car down a lane while compensating for crosswinds that affected the car's behavior.
7 Signs That You're a Good Developer
There's nothing unusual if you want to become a developer. Perhaps you'd want to create web applications, mobile apps, or even some sort of a game. However, the issue is whether or not you believe yourself to be competent enough. I attempted to explain some of the indicators that suggest that you're really a great developer or not.
Programming is a Profession That Requires Constant Learning
Thus, you can assume knowing several programming languages or having some experience in this field isn't sufficient to call yourself good at it. The only way you're able to understand if are truly talented enough for something is when you spend years working on projects and solving problems - just like any other developer out there does. If the outcome was great then most likely your skills are highly appreciated by others too!
In other words, if you can create a basic project like a calculator or even something more complicated in a Programming Language that you understand well, then you truly understand how it works, and this is critical.
Good Developers Don't Need Anyone's help
Developers that are great don't require any assistance while working. They never get stuck because they know how to work alone and without supervision (well, sometimes even with someone watching over them). They're constantly able to accomplish what they set out to do, as well as produce high-quality results immediately and consistently.
Of course, working with your coworkers to establish the project is preferable, but there may be times when you'll be alone with no one to assist you, therefore you'll need to be able to work independently and have faith that you can accomplish this task on your own.
Programming Isn't The Only Thing That They're Good at!
They usually have a wide range of skills and are interested in various other activities like music, movies, sports, etc. Consequently, they can easily communicate with different types of people which is always an advantage when working on a project with a team.
It also aids them in performing their job more effectively. For instance, you've been given a freelance order to create a completely Working Website for someone's service, such as a generator of images from sentences or an AI with a paid subscription and other features. So to complete the task, you'll need to understand this field well and not just how to make a beautiful navbar or animated scrollbar. I believe you see my point.
You Must Be Familiar With Your Tools
This quote is extremely relevant for this particular subject. Good developers not only possess great coding skills but also know their development environments (such as IDEs) very well and use all the shortcuts available to make their work faster.
Additionally, they understand the principles behind the code they write and why it works instead of just blindly following some tutorials.
Developers are self-taught
I assume you've heard this statement before, but do you actually know what it means? This term implies that the person never attended any special school or classes to learn Programming. Consequently, they just started working on projects and found themselves doing something new every day which developed their programming skills along with time.
Without a doubt having some sort of education in Programming is advantageous because there's lots of stuff to study in order to become great at it (similarly like when studying for an exam). However, if your primary goal is only becoming good enough then most likely developing these skills alone will be sufficient. Just remember about practicing every day!
You're Good If You Can Create Something
When I say creating, I mean Programming a piece of software, not designing it. There is an entire world outside Programming and creating websites or mobile apps which requires creativity as well (such as drawing).
However, we're talking about Programming now so if you can create something complicated without using any tutorials to assist you then this fact confirms that your skills are worth being valued by other people! It's all about challenging yourself because the more difficult task is solved successfully, the better developer you become! So don't be afraid of challenges - embrace them instead!
No Need To Read This Article
If you're already a good developer then there is no reason in reading this article! You know everything that was written here, or at least most of it because I'm sure some points are new to you. So congratulations on becoming awesome at Programming and discovering how important it is to be able to work alone without assistance (except when needed)! Good luck with your tasks, projects, and career progressions!
'RHOC' BRAUNWYN WINDHAM-BURKE PDA WITH NEW MODEL GF ON BEACH ... Keepin' It Casual
Braunwyn Windham-Burke might be an OC girl, but she sure does look good in Florida ... especially in the arms of this beauty.
The 'Real Housewives' alum was enjoying the rays of Miami Beach this week, splashing in the waves alongside a woman she was more than happy to embrace in public. More than just that ... they were putting on a full-blown PDA clinic.
We've figured out her mystery playmate is Victoria Brito, and sources tell us she and Braunwyn have been dating for a month. They met via mutual friends and they've been talking on IG.
We're told they're keeping it pretty casual for now, although Braunwyn is apparently smitten ... which is obvious in the beach pics. As for VB, she's coming up in the game -- having recently shot a campaign for PUMA.
Of course, we know what you're thinking ... has Victoria met Braunwyn's kids with Sean??? Our sources say not yet, but Braunwyn plans to introduce Victoria to her kids around Christmas when they travel to CA together.
Braunwyn came out as lesbian in December. She and Sean split earlier this year.
How to Make Your Long Distance Boyfriend Want You More
Relationships can have their fair share of conflicts and issues in any normal situation. Let's face it, even the so called healthy relationships have had their fair share of ups and down. And with long distance relationships, the chances that you may sometime fall out with your significant other cannot be ruled out. Without mincing words, distance can cause a huge gulf between two inseparable love birds. Little wonder the cliché "out of sight is out of mind"
Of course, there are pros and cons attached to long distance relationships. First of all, a long distance relationship can actually help the relationship between you and your man grow stronger each day, as you constantly miss each other and try to do things that would bridge the gap between you.
However, the not-so-appealing part of long distance relationships is found in being out of the sight of your partner. In the most extreme cases, this can result in you slipping from his mind pretty quickly, and we don't want that do we? Of course not! That's why this article is just timely. In this article, you'll get all the relationship advice you need to put some spark to your long distance relationship.
Here are some really helpful relationship advice that will make your long distance boyfriend fall helplessly in love with you even from miles away. Hopefully, you'll get the hang of this and pitch your relationship among some of the best healthy relationships out there.
Primp yourself up before his departure.
Saying farewell to your lover can be heartbreaking to say the least, but you don't need to look unkempt and haggard because he's going miles away from you. To make him feel like staying back instead of leaving, do something about your looks; get a sexy new hairstyle, or go to the beauticians for a facial so your skin glows. Treat yourself to a new wardrobe, some cute new shoes, a sexy dress and a flattering blouse that you look and feel awesome in. Look good for him, even at the airport, as you bid him farewell, let him know exactly who he is leaving behind. Your boyfriend will surely experience a heightened interest in you like never before with your new look and all.
Curb the desire to call him every single day.
Yes, the phone is all that you have that connects you both now and it's normal to feel propelled to always stay in touch with him. However, you'll be overdoing things if you call or text him every single minute! Trust me, boys sometimes want their space. So, instead of wanting you more he'll only get irritated with your constant calls. So, draw back a little bit (it's all for your good). It's okay to let his call go to voice-mail once in awhile or delay replying his text. When you wait for a few hours before calling him you'll get better results. I'm sure he'll be so excited to hear your voice, why? Because he has really missed you!
Let him know you are having fun.
Do you want to show your heartthrob that he is missing out on a lot? Go out shopping with your girlfriends, go clubbing, to the movies, do something adventurous while your boyfriend is away and be sure to take selfies! Share these pictures with him later, giving him a subtle hint that you are having fun on your own and not moping around. That will get him on his toes if he really loves you. Do that often and your man might just take the next available flight back to you because he wants you so badly.
Make use of social platforms that allows him to see your face.
In today's world of modern technology, there's virtually nothing you can't do on the Internet. This is to your advantage, so make full use of all the communication options that enables you talk to your significant other every single day. To this end, social media platforms like Snapchat and Facebook have proven to be very rewarding. All you need to do is fix a date to talk to each other on any of these platforms, and don't forget to primp up yourself so you look gorgeous since he's going to see you!
Don't make use of jealousy.
If you want to have a healthy relationship with your man, even if it's a long distanced one, it isn't advisable to make use of jealousy in order to make your man miss or want you more.
It's safe to let him know you're having a good time while he's away from you, but don't rub anything in his face to make him jealous. This won't make your long distance boyfriend want you, he'll only feel insecure in his relationship with you, and that could be the beginning of the end of your relationship, long distance or otherwise.
I hope this relationship advice have been exciting? Experiment with them and you'll definitely pitch your relationship as one of the healthy relationships your peers will look to emulate.
Alder Lake Architectural Benchmark: Intel 12th-Gen Core
A few months back we investigated CPU core misconceptions, explaining how overall processor performance is affected not only by how many cores a CPU has, but other factors including cache levels and capacity. This was an interesting and unique look at Intel’s 10th-gen series in an article we titled "How CPU Cores & Cache Impact Gaming Performance." Basically what we did was compare the Core i9-10900K, Core i7-10700K and Core i5-10600K at the same 4.2 GHz frequency, with the same memory, memory timings, ring bus frequency, and so on.
Then compared the three CPUs with only 6 cores / 12 threads enabled to see how much of a difference the L3 cache capacity made when it came to gaming performance. After that, we compared that data to the 10700K and 10900K with 8 cores enabled, and finally the 10900K with all of its 10 cores turned on.
Long story short, it turns out that in almost all games, it's not the core count but the L3 cache capacity that is responsible for the improved performance seen across the higher-end Intel parts. Of course, down the track the extra cores will see those higher-end parts pull even further ahead, but at least on today's games it’s all about the L3 cache.
That investigation later morphed to a quad-core version where we included Core i3 models and a similar take for AMD CPUs, where we looked at 10 years of AMD CPU progress and back to Intel for the same.
To wrap up that content, we thought we should add the new Intel Alder Lake 12th-gen CPUs to the data pool, so here we are, and it's been a more involved process than we first imagined. Whereas all other CPU architectures had one, two, or maybe three different configurations, 12th-gen Core has three per CPU.
For example, the 10th-gen CPUs had a 20MB L3 cache with the Core i9 model, 16MB for i7 and 12MB for the i5 models, Alder Lake’s cache capacity is segmented in a similar fashion, 20MB of L3 for the Core i5, 25MB for i7 and 30 MB for i9. But then on top of that we had to work out what kind of core configuration we should test. Four P-cores, Four E-cores or a mixture of both? The correct answer was of course all three configurations and that’s provided us with a wealth of juicy data to go over.
To be clear, with four P-cores enabled we were using Hyper-Threading, so this is a 4-core/8-thread configuration. Basically SMT was enabled when supported for all test configurations. This means because the E-cores don’t support SMT the four E-core configuration was 4 cores with 4 threads. Then the mixed configuration which featured two P-cores with two E-cores was a 4-core/6-thread configuration.
For testing we’ve used the MSI Z690 Tomahawk Wi-Fi DDR4 as we wanted to use the same DDR4-3200 CL14 low-latency memory that was used to test all the other CPU architectures that support DDR4. In our testing, DDR5-6000 has not shown to be any faster for gaming, but most importantly we wanted to keep the data as apples to apples as possible for this feature. Finally, all configurations were tested using the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Let’s dive into the data.
Benchmarks
Starting with Rainbow Six Siege, there’s quite a bit to go over, so bear with me. First let’s just look at the Core i9-12900K, we see with four P-cores enabled and locked at 4.2 GHz that this configuration was good for 510 fps, just 3% faster than AMD’s Zen 3 architecture.
Then with two P-cores and two E-cores enabled, performance dropped by 15% which is a fairly significant reduction, and then with just four E-cores enabled performance drops by a further 12% which isn’t that much and not nearly the decline I was expecting. Quite shockingly, in this title four E-cores were able to match the performance of the Core i9-11900K, though the 11th-gen architecture does suck in this title, but still I didn’t expect to see any results like this.
JAMB takes over collection of registration fee from Computer-Based Test centres to end extortion
JAMB says it has taken over the collection of the N700 registration fee for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), from 2022.
It said in its weekly bulletin issued in Abuja on Monday that it would collect the approved N700 registration fee at the point of registration and remit the same to the various approved centres.
"JAMB will as from the 2022 UTME exercise, be collecting the approved N700 registration fee on behalf of the various Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres along with its UTME registration fees.
"The board will then remit whatever is due to each registration centre to its bank account on a weekly basis or any timeframe acceptable to the centre owners.
"This laudable step was borne out of a painstaking review of the entire UTME registration process which has revealed some unethical and unacceptable practises by many CBT centres.
"It is to be noted that these centres were allowed to collect only N700 as registration charges, but some fraudulent centre owners misused that opportunity to engage in conduct unbecoming of respectable establishments.
"They indulge in massive extortion of candidates during the exercise,'' the board stated.
It stated also that it had been compelled to make the UTME registration process cashless to put a stop to extortion.
It added that the new process would not in any way increase the cost of UTME registration.
"It is only the process of payment that has changed; not the cost.
"With the new policy, candidates simply walk into any registration centre and register without paying any fee.
"The fee hitherto payable to the centre would have been paid along with the cost of obtaining the e-PINS,'' it stressed.
Meanwhile, the board said it had taken a decision to establish what it referred to as the "A/Level Task Team'' and the "A/Level Qualification and Verification Databank'' (ALQVD).
It explained the initiatives were to serve as monitoring bodies and repositories respectively, for verified A/Level qualifications.
It said the measure, as well as others underway, were to ensure that the gains recorded in the education sector were not eroded.
"This follows revelations from a recent professional operation undertaken by the ICPC in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Education.
"These revelations are contained in a recent statement by the ICPC about irregularities in the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board (JUPEB).
"Concerns were expressed by major stakeholders about the faking of the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) examination results.
"As such, it has become necessary for the board, as a moderator of the two examinations, to take appropriate action to put a stop to the unacceptable happenings.
"Just recently, one tertiary institution had cause to verify the IJMBE results of more than 146 candidates admitted with IJMB certificates and found only six genuine results,'' JAMB lamented.
It stated also that it had introduced Computer Studies and Physical Health Education, to the existing 23 UTME subjects to make them 25, beginning from the 2022 UTME.
ECOWAS Cybersecurity Hackathon 2024
The highly anticipated Cybersecurity Hackathon for 2024 has been announced by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This...
-
A monitor may refer to any of the following: 1. Alternatively referred to as a VDT ( video display terminal ) and VDU ( video display...
-
After, close to two years, it should surprise no one, many are, at the least, tired of this horrendous pandemic, or even, far - more, fatig... -
There's nothing unusual if you want to become a developer. Perhaps you'd want to create web applications, mobile apps, or even some ...
