Violent video games DO make people more aggressive

By Stephanie Darrall

Violent video games can alter the brain in just one week and make players more aggressive, according to researchers.
A study has found that key areas in the brain suffer reduced activity, and leave it physically altered.
The findings will fuel the debate over the impact that violent games have on regular players and links to anti-social behaviour.

Scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis took a group of 22 men aged 18-29 and performed MRI scans on them.
They then divided the group in half, and while one group was asked to play violent video games for at least 10 hours a week while the second group played none.

According to the Sunday Times, the researchers found that the effects on the brain were discovered in the left inferior frontal lobe and the anterior cingulate cortex.
An abstract of the report which will be published at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America later this week said subjects experienced alterations to their brain.

The report said: 'Subjects showed relatively less activation in prefontal regions associated with executive function following one week of violent video game playing.

'This investigation provides the first longitudial, experimental investigation of video game play on brain activity.'
The results could be concerning as they seem to show that the games cause brain plasticity - where the brain alters to accommodate demands put on it.
However they found that when gamers stopped playing, their brains returned to normal.

The research comes after another study by from Texas A&M University which monitored 165 young people over three years to evaluate the effects of video games on anti-social behavior.
They found no connection between the players behaviour and game playing.