Researchers may have found scientific evidence that violent video
games have long-term effects on the brain functions in young men.
The researchers presented the results of the study at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), according to an article on PR Newswire.
“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,” said
Yang Wang, assistant research professor in the Department of Radiology
and Imaging Sciences at Indiana University School of Medicine in
Indianapolis.
Wang said these affected brain regions are important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior.
Coauthors of the study included are Tom Hummer, William Kronenberger, Kristine Mosier, and Vincent Mathews.
PR Newswire said a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
analysis found changes in brain regions associated with cognitive
function and emotional control in young adult men after one week of game
play.
The study had 22 healthy adult males aged 18 to 29, with low past
exposure to violent video games. The 22 were randomly assigned to two
groups of 11.
Members of the first group were instructed to play a shooting
video game for 10 hours at home for one week and refrain from playing
the following week.
On the other hand, the second group did not play a violent video game at all during the two-week period.
Each of the 22 men underwent fMRI at the beginning of the study, with follow-up exams at one and two weeks.
During fMRI, the participants completed an emotional interference
task, pressing buttons according to the color of visually presented
words.
Words indicating violent actions were mixed with nonviolent action
words. Also, the participants completed a cognitive inhibition counting
task.
After one week of violent game play, the video game group members
showed less activation in the left inferior frontal lobe during the
emotional task and less activation in the anterior cingulate cortex
during the counting task.
After the second week without game play, the changes to the executive regions of the brain were diminished.
“These findings indicate that violent video game play has a long-term effect on brain functioning,” Wang said. — TJD, GMA News
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