Violent games DO alter your brain
November 29th 2011 21:30
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
By Rob Waugh
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.
| 21 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
