Violent Video Games Cause Changes in the Brain

Think playing video games won't affect brain performance? Think again. Protective mothers across the country relieve a sigh of "I told you so." Playing violent video games, a recent study of young men shows, decreased the players' brain activity in their left inferior frontal lobe while performing emotional tasks and counting tasks. A dearth of activity in this area of the brain is thought to cause violent behavior. The study involved making some men play violent video games for one week, testing their brain activity, restricting them from video games for a week, and then testing their brain activity during different tasks again. The researchers found that while playing violent video games reduces activity in the frontal lobe, the effect is diminished after a week of not playing video games. So the effects of violent video games, while they make a significant short term difference, can be counteracted by refraining from playing them. Them study team now hopes to see if pro-societal video games will stimulate brain activity in the left inferior frontal lobe.

This article was particularly relevant to me, not because I play a lot of violent video games, but because my roommates do, and I like to watch them. It's interesting to see how environmental factors, like playing violent video games, change how we act. Maybe one day, we will better understand the effects of these factors and be able to predict people's actions or tendencies.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111130095251.htm

Radiological Society of North America. "Violent video games alter brain function in young men."ScienceDaily, 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.