Slashdot Mirror
Study Finds Frequent Gaming Changes Your Brain
Coolhand2120 writes "Gamers always felt they had more grey matter. The LA Times reports there is now proof: 'Fourteen-year-olds who were frequent video gamers had more gray matter in the rewards center of the brain than peers who didn't play video games as much — suggesting that gaming may be correlated to changes in the brain much as addictions are. European scientists reported the discovery Tuesday in the journal Translational Psychiatry. Psychologist Simone Kuhn of Ghent University in Belgium and colleagues recruited 154 healthy 14-year-olds in Berlin and divided them into two groups. Twenty-four girls and 52 boys were frequent gamers who played at least nine hours of video games each week. Fifty-eight girls and 20 boys were infrequent gamers, who played less than nine hours a week. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed differences in the test subjects' brains. Frequent gamers had more gray matter in a portion of the brain known as the left ventral striatum, which affects the interplay of emotions and behavior. Previous research identified striatal function as a 'core candidate promoting addictive behavior.'"
Slashdot Headline: Study Finds Frequent Gaming Changes Your Brain
FTA: They couldn't determine if the frequent gamers' brains grew larger as a result of playing video games or if those kids were attracted to gaming because that part of their brain was enlarged in the first place
At least the submitter could have read the article.
Any type of learning changes the way your brain works.
And for those of us that are unemployed/have too much free time on our hands, most, if not all, of your friends are frequently busy, and have already done your exercise regimen (if you have one) for the day, video games tend to be a great solution...
I am *sooooo* going to sue Nintendo for my tweenage drug abuse. ;)
They're all pretty young, the sample appears pretty small and the sample would seem unbalanced.
Isn't the brain already undergoing radical changes at that age? I am not doubting there being an effect, but how does that effect pan out over time? Will a difference remain a decade later?
How does frequent gaming affect people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, etc.?
Ever find yourself in a public place, like a mall or stadium and the little thought flashes through your mind, "I just need the really big gun and I could clear this place out." or "I wonder how much gold I could get clearing this place out" Fortunately some little sanity barrier prevents you.
Found ideas like that in my mind after epic gaming sessions. Don't play those kinds of games now so those thoughts haven't popped up in years. I hope they're gone for good, I didn't like the idea I could even visualise something like those thoughts.
Now I wonder how much wood I need, with that port near by, to build another settlement.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The results are equally consistent with the hypothesis that those with more developed left ventral striatum are more disposed to gaming.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
The study did not say that games change the brain, it says that people with this type of brain are more apt to play games. RTFA
So the survey included twice as many boys as girls in the treatment group, and three times as many girls as boys in the control group?
That seems like a serious flaw. Men are widely considered more impulsive and more likely to have addiction problems in general, both in popular perception and in some research results. What if men's brains simply respond more to games and other dopamine-related activities (i.e. potentially addictive stuff) than women's?
I hate to be that guy who asks a possibly moronic, self-congratulatory question about sample size, basic method, etc., but I still think it's hard to statistically control the basic differences between men and women with such massively skewed gender samplings.
Correlation does not imply causation. They SELECTED people who were already playing more than 9 hours a week. This could easily be attributed to people with a more addictive brain structure, seeking out addictive behavior.
There is nothing in this article to suggest the study found that gaming caused changes in brain structure. The study only reports the brains of those who are frequent gamers show some differences when compared to study subjects who are not gamers.
Wir sind geboren, um frei zu sein - Rio Reiser
The article says that it's not clear if playing games changes the brains, or if kids with those structures tend to game more.
Sensationalism? What sensationalism? I see no sensationalism here!
Close to 100 girls actually admitted they play video games!
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
The study did NOT find that gaming changes your brain.
Slashdot editors - please RTFA when you get sent a submission!
It found a correlation between certain brain physiology and gaming but they state fairly carefully:
"Whether the volumetric differences in ventral striatum between frequent and moderate video game players are preconditions that lead to a vulnerability for preoccupation with gaming or whether they are a consequence of long-lasting activation during gaming can not be determined with a cross-sectional study."
They're not claiming causality here. They're claiming a correlation in their findings. Not ruling it out, but they're definitely not saying they found one causes the other. So the headline is completely wrong.
...gaming may be correlated to changes in the brain much as addictions are.
Can't...sleep...must...keep...leveling...
Sound familiar to anyone?
"You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
So whats the cure? Less gaming??
I won't argue that video games don't have some detrimental impact on young, impressionable minds. Spending your days devoting yourself to a diluted group of persons whose sole purpose is to destroy each other through verbal and pseudo-physical violence, or learning fictional dialogue that actually means nothing in real life, or using it to avoid doing chores and other forms of stress or work probably become a "good idea" to them after a while. The gaming and Internet forever alone lifestyle is sometimes, indeed, a more lucid reality than real life to some.
But little kids are led to believe that video games are the coolest thing since sliced bread. Parents are getting lazier and as video games cover so many different things, its easy to keep your child content with the vidya. Like most kids and pre-teens will do, they will bitch like crazy if you try to move them and make them go outside, but only because nobody put them on a track to do things outside. You can't expect someone to enjoy an activity intended to be enjoyable when nobody ever showed them why they can or should enjoy it.
Because I just installed MESS and MAME on my anemic nettop... which was like $200... now it feels like I have a thousand computers. I am compelled to personally emulate every computer I ever knew. Started with the vector arcade systems... gotta go...
scrub ass European scientist
How timely, I just read a blog post about brain plasticity. Basically, the list of activities that do not alter the brain is probably much shorter than the list of activities that do. The human brain is constantly rewiring itself. Here's an article about a study that shows brain plasticity may be even more radical than we thought, possibly even reprogramming the genomes of individual neurons: http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/11/genome.html
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
. . . my friend got Super Mario Brothers on NES and I stopped to play at his house after school. Later, when I was at home reading a book, I noticed that my thumb was twitching when my eyes moved from one word to the next.
Correlation does not imply causality.
Also called "training"
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
come on guys, 9 hours isn't an addiction. When I was in school I played 20 hours a week. This is weak.
Since when is 9 hours/week considered infrequent? That's over an hour a day. I spend less time eating.
That's how brains work.
If the researchers used their brains, they might be able to induce enough change for them to realise this for themselves!
Heart medication causes heart attacks.
A study finds that people on heart medication are 3 times more likely to suffer a sudden heart attack, than other people. The conclusion is obvious.
Run with the lemmings, and you'll get your feet wet.
And for those of us that are unemployed/have too much free time on our hands, most, if not all, of your friends are frequently busy, and have already done your exercise regimen (if you have one) for the day, video games tend to be a great solution...
Get a job you lazy bum
No. For third posts claiming to be first? Maybe
In other news, researchers have discovered that running affects the size of leg muscles, and playing tennis affects the size of arm and shoulder muscles.
I guess the big surprise here, is that unlike sitting in front of the TV, playing games is not a mindless activity. That should not surprise anyone here, but I'm sure a lot of people in the generation who are now over 50 (i.e. our parents) will have trouble accepting this.
DUH
Frequent ANYTHING changes the brain
Silly Rabbit!
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
That must mean I'm a genius! Look at my name. I play games a lot.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I would like to add that the increased activity noted by the study when the gamer is given feedback that they are losing is likely due to the core nature of gaming. In its current form gaming is highly competitive even in non competitive games. Example Sonic a single player game over time has developed a competitive scene with Speed runs. (basically seeing who can finish a level faster.)
Due to the nature this environment causes when you find out you are falling behind or in danger of losing you do exert a lot more effort to make up the difference. Im no medical professional (i work in IT to be exact and happen to be a gamer) but i would think this would be a good basis for increased activity and if you do happen to come out ahead it is rewarding in the fact that you overcame a difficult position in the game.
I will agree games are addictive but not in a clinical way any more than a good game of chess at least.
"Twenty-four girls and 52 boys were frequent gamers who played at least nine hours of video games each week. Fifty-eight girls and 20 boys were infrequent gamer"
WTF
The summary headline is not all that wrong. They did find a correlation. Correlation is not proof of causation, so says the standard line. But that's not actually true. Isn't absence of correlation evidence against causation?
Indeed finding a such a correlation would be the test of the hypothesis that learning causes brain structure change. I think the scientific term the researchers would use is "duh".
By no means conclusive or accurate to say it's actually causal, but it is the mostly likely explanation?
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Correlation does not equal causation. It could be that those with more grey matter are more attracted to games - rather than that the games are changing the brains. Eg. Doctors appear to be, on average, smarter than Athletes. Playing sport changes your brain and decreases your intelligence?
Not necessarily the most likely explanation, but it at least leaves it open as a possible explanation. The line "correlation doesn't equal causation" is a warning against getting to this point in the scientific process, where you have one study that shows a possible link, and then use it as conclusive evidence that your hypothesis is correct, when you've really proven nothing yet. Before they decide that this is what is causing the brain changes, they need to do a lot more work to eliminate other possible explanations, such as have the participants change their gaming behavior over a longer period of time and track changes in their brain. In any event, while this is a vital first step, it is still only a first step, and really isn't very strong evidence just yet.
RTFA is Known to the State of California to cause cancer.
My huge brain sees the obviousness of the truth in this summary. You troglodyte small brained no gaming slashdotters just fail to see the truth. So there. Signed, Mr. Warcraft
If there was some tie in to emotional maturity,patience, wisdom, or even raw intelligence, that would better validate the value of VG more than just changes in the shape of the brain - which is quiet common among those engaged in repetitive mental behavior just like muscle develops according to to repetitive physical behavior.