A new study claims to have found connections between gaming and altered brain activities. The findings are not only positive.
Faster reactions and better thinking skills – but at what cost?
When it comes to gaming and its effects on our brain, there have been many horror stories in recent years. Most of these frightening theses, such as desensitization or social deficits, have not been proven so far. Now there is a new study that even attests positive effects for us gamers – at least that’s one side of the coin.
We think better …
A university from Utah, together with a university from South Korea, examined the brains of 200 boys aged 5 to 15 years and aimed to determine how long-term consumption of video games affects various connections in the brain.
The study suggests that regular gaming is responsible for some enhanced connections (“hyperconnectivity”) of various brain areas. For example, gamers can process new information quickly and analyze new circumstances and can (at least temporarily) focus intensely on a goal. Or broken down to one sentence: Gamers can think more effectively.
… but not for very long.
On the other hand, this connectivity also seems to have disadvantages. Because at the same time, connections are formed that can drastically affect our attention span. According to the study, gamers are significantly more easily distracted and cannot focus long on the same task (roughly like watching an anime while writing the article – which, of course, is not the case!). The comparisons drawn even sound a bit frightening.
The changes are strongly reminiscent of those experienced by patients with neuropsychological disorders, such as in the case of schizophrenia, Down syndrome, or autism. This also comes with decreased impulse control – for example, short “outbursts” when throwing the gamepad against the wall.
The researchers now want to pursue further studies to further validate – or refute – the previous results.
