Child Health News
Published: Friday, 1-Dec-2006


http://www.news-medical.net/?id=21133

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.

this is one thing I do agree with.violent video games etc desensitze their brains,its no wonder half of them end up running off the rails.manufacturers of these ridiculous games should be held accountable next time someone gets an idea to see how much 'fun' it would be to go shoot up a shopping mall or school.

I don't think this is to correct personally. I am a gamer and my oldest son (11yrs) plays games too and yeah if I think the content is to harsh we won't get the game but he knows the deal about life and death and gun safety etc... I usually am playing with him when we play and we have a lot of fun and I have never observed abnormal behavior from him because of the content of the game. It's a game and people just need to sit down with there children and discuss it's a game and that's it. This is the same with movies and certain music videos kids need to be taught and discussions need to be had over content that they watch. If you raise your child right this is a non issue. In my mind.

When my sons were growing up they were gamers and in some ways, when they have the time, are still gamers. However, the games they had were the role play D & D type. Today, because of their jobs, the have graduated to the, what I call, the shoot um up and kill them games.

Me, I stayed in the role play D & D type, of which there don't seem to be many, because it appears that there is more money to be made in the other kind.

Play NeverWinter Nights 2 OldGuy you will like that game alot because I love D&D style games.

Already got it D1 - enjoyed the other Neverwinter Nights

I have started playing it just very recently and like it a lot they have a expansion for it 'Mask of the Betrayer' check that out if you haven't and there is plenty of websites out there that have mods for download to play.

perfect example is, as a child I grew up on a farm,as kids we used .22 rifles to shoot rabbits and 12 gauge double barrel shot-guns to shoot tiger snakes.we didn't need fire-arm licenses etc.
now due to one idiot shooting up a tourist complex a few years back ( port Arthur gun massacre)
right here in Tasmania,all the do-gooders decided everyone had to hand in all automatic rifles to be destroyed,anyone who wanted to keep a rifle or gun had to apply for a permit stating why they needed it,and it was up to the police wether they got to or not,and now you can only buy ammunition if you have a fire-arm licence to do so and you have to declare the serial number of the weapon it is intended to be used in,and for what purpose.
once again,the sensible ppl doing the right thing,pay for the one or two idiots where something goes to their heads.