Violent games DO alter your brain - and the effect is
visible in MRI scans in just a week
- First
credible study of effect of violent gaming on brain
- Test
group of 22 young men showed 'clear' differences in MRI scans after one
week of gaming
- Areas
effected seem to be those that control cognitive function and emotional
control
By Rob Waugh
Games
such as Assassin's Creed feature a huge amount of physical violence - and MRI
scans demonstrate that playing such games DOES have an effect on the brain
Violent video games and other
computer entertainment have long been criticised for damaging youngsters'
brain.
But activists such as Oxford Professor Baroness Greenfield
have often presented little science to back up their allegations.
However, extensive research into the subject has now
provided worrying results that support her claims.
'Screen technologies cause high arousal which in turn
activates the brain system's underlying addiction,' the neurologist said last
month in an attack that accused games of causing 'dementia' in children.
'This results in the attraction of yet more screen-based
activity.'
And now the first genuinely scientific attempt to analyse
the emotive subject has thrown up astonishing results that suggest she is
right.
Differences in brain activity between young men who played
violent games and ones who didn't were visible in a randomly assigned sample in
just one week.
A presentation at the annual meeting of the Radiological
Society of North America told how fMRI scans were used to analyse the effects
of playing violent videogames on brain activity.
More...
The study took in 22 young men, and used magnetic-resonance
scanning, as well as verbal psychological tests and counting tasks.
One control group played a violent shoot 'em up for 10 hours
during one week, then refrained afterwards.
The other group did not play any games in either week.
Shoot
'em ups such as Modern Warfare 2 offer relentless action - and MRI scans of
gamers who play for more than 10 hours per week show that the games DO change
activity in crucial brain regions
After one week, the 'gamers' showed less activity in certain
regions of the brain when they were scanned.
'Violent video game play has an effect on
brain functioning'
Dr Yang Wang, assistant research professor in the Department
of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Indiana University School of Medicine in
Indianapolis said to Medical News Today: 'For the first time, we have found
that a sample of randomly assigned young adults showed less activation in
certain frontal brain regions following a week of playing violent video games
at home.'
'These brain regions are important for controlling emotion
and aggressive behavior.'
The researchers, though, were cautious about their findings.
Learning any new activity causes changes in brain activity that are visible
under MRI scans, so the study does not prove that it is specifically playing
violent games that alters behaviour.
The good news for parents is that the changes diminished
greatly after one week.
Magnetic
resonance scan MRI of the head computer enhanced and colourised: The areas
associated with cognitive function and emotional control seemed to function
differently after just a week of playing a popular shoot 'em up
Dr Wang told Medical News Today: 'These effects indicate
that violent video game play has a long-term effect on brain functioning.'
It's the first evidence of videogames having a detectable
'effect' on the brain - but whether this effect is simply the gamer group using
parts of their brain differently to learn new skills remains to be discovered.
The fact that the areas affected appeared to be related to
cognitive function and emotional control are concerning.
Further research into the subject will be conducted by Dr
Yang Wang and his team.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2067607/Violent-games-DO-alter-brain--effect-visible-MRI-scans-just-week.html#ixzz1fAvO0cDK