Violent video games have an effect on kids brains

Dec 1 2006

A new study has found that teenagers who play violent video games have increased activity in those areas of the brain which control emotional arousal, and decreased activity in the regions associated with control, focus and concentration.

For the study, researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record tiny metabolic changes in brain activity in adolescents after they had played a video game.

The 44 children age 13 to 17 years, with no history of behaviour problems, were randomly assigned to play either a violent video game or a nonviolent video game for 30 minutes; while one group played a game involving military combat, the other group played a nonviolent game.

After playing the games the researchers used fMRI to study brain function during a series of tasks measuring inhibition and concentration. One test used emotional stimuli and one did not.

Alterations in brain function reflecting changes in blood flow appeared as brightly colored areas on the magnetic resonance images.

The researchers found that those who played the violent video game showed more activation in the amygdala, which is involved in emotional arousal, and less activation in the prefrontal portions of the brain associated with control, focus and concentration than the teens who played the nonviolent game.

Dr. Vincent Mathews, a professor of radiology at the University says the study suggests that playing a certain type of violent video game may have different short-term effects on brain function than playing a nonviolent, but exciting, game.

Dr. Mathews says what they saw was an increase in emotional arousal, in other words the fight or flight response is activated after playing a violent video game.

The researchers hope to conduct additional research on the long-term effects of violent video game exposure and the impact of these brain functioning differences.

Video games are a lucrative business and is worth in excess of $10 billion in sales in the U.S. alone.

But there is growing concern about what effects these games may be having on the young people who play them and a number of previous studies have linked exposure to violent media with aggressive behaviour.

But attempts to ban the sale of violent video games to children have been blocked by courts in Louisiana, Illinois, California. Michigan and Minnesota.

The findings were presented at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.