Daphné Bavelier, PhD
University of Geneva & Neuro@CampusBiotech
Biography:
Daphné Bavelier is an internationally-recognized expert on how humans learn. In particular, she studies how the brain adapts to changes in experience, either by nature - for example, deafness - or by training - for example, playing video games. Her lab established that playing fast-paced, action-packed entertainment video games typically thought to be mind-numbing actually benefits several aspects of behavior. Exploiting this counter-intuitive finding, the Cognitive Neuroscience research team she heads at the University of Geneva, Switzerland investigates how new media, such as video games, can be leveraged to foster learning and brain plasticity.
Bavelier has contributed as an expert for the World Economic Forum in domains as varied as Education (New Vision for Education: Unlocking the potential of technology) or Human Enhancement (World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Human Enhancement), as well as a confounded in 2011 Akili Interactive, a company whose goal was to develop clinically-validated cognitive therapeutics that exploit video games.
Her scientific contribution has been recognized by several prizes over the years, including the John Merck Scholar Award (2000-2004), a finalist selection for the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientist (2008), and more recently the 2019 Klaus J. Jacobs Awards, that honors outstanding research with social impact on children and youth.
Abstract:
Video games have long been dismissed as a waste of time Yet a growing body of experimental work tells a different story: action video games — the attentionally demanding shooter games most associated with popular culture — turn out to be remarkably potent tools for reshaping how the brain learns. In this talk, I will review key findings on the cognitive benefits of action video game play, and push beyond the early results to address a question with profound real-world implications. How can we leverage our knowledge from action video games and their impact on brain plasticity and learning to build better teaching tools for every day skills, from learning to read to learning to learn?
Daphné Bavelier is an internationally-recognized expert on how humans learn. In particular, she studies how the brain adapts to changes in experience, either by nature - for example, deafness - or by training - for example, playing video games. Her lab established that playing fast-paced, action-packed entertainment video games typically thought to be mind-numbing actually benefits several aspects of behavior. Exploiting this counter-intuitive finding, the Cognitive Neuroscience research team she heads at the University of Geneva, Switzerland investigates how new media, such as video games, can be leveraged to foster learning and brain plasticity.
Bavelier has contributed as an expert for the World Economic Forum in domains as varied as Education (New Vision for Education: Unlocking the potential of technology) or Human Enhancement (World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Human Enhancement), as well as a confounded in 2011 Akili Interactive, a company whose goal was to develop clinically-validated cognitive therapeutics that exploit video games.
Her scientific contribution has been recognized by several prizes over the years, including the John Merck Scholar Award (2000-2004), a finalist selection for the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientist (2008), and more recently the 2019 Klaus J. Jacobs Awards, that honors outstanding research with social impact on children and youth.
Abstract:
Video games have long been dismissed as a waste of time Yet a growing body of experimental work tells a different story: action video games — the attentionally demanding shooter games most associated with popular culture — turn out to be remarkably potent tools for reshaping how the brain learns. In this talk, I will review key findings on the cognitive benefits of action video game play, and push beyond the early results to address a question with profound real-world implications. How can we leverage our knowledge from action video games and their impact on brain plasticity and learning to build better teaching tools for every day skills, from learning to read to learning to learn?
