Playing Games May Damage Your Brain
A study conducted by a doctor Chou Yuan-hua in the Department of Psychiatry of Taipei Veterans General Hospital appears to show that people "who spend much time playing video games, especially violent video games," may damage brain functions related to learning and emotional control, reports Taiwan News Online.
Just what you wanted to hear after spending your holiday parked in front of a gamepad, keyboard, or mouse.
The study involved 30 people, all aged 25, who were given physical examinations to monitor blood flow in their brains before and after playing video games for 30 minutes. The study claims that playing games in general decreases brain blood flow, and that playing expressly violent games exacerbates this effect.
How do you equate "much time" with 30 minutes? Is the study concluding that 30 minutes a pop is enough to "risk damaging brain functions"?
According to Chou, yes, with the primary risk being damage to the frontal lobe of the brain -- associated with thinking, speaking, decision-making, and impulse control -- as well as the anterior cingulate gyrus, which modulates emotional behavior. What happens if blood flow to these parts of the brain is decreased? Chou refers to clinical experiences which suggest schizophrenics and people suffering from depression have notably lower blood flow to both areas.
Reality check: Doing too much of anything is bad for you. Eat too much and you're fat. Run too much and there go your knees. Read too much without frequent breaks for your eyes or in dim light and you'll be wearing glasses quicker than you can say "genetically impervious."
The question was never "Is it possible to game too much?" Of course it is. Duh.
No, the question's really: Are the results any different in other mediums, e.g. movies, TV, books...heck, just sitting on your front porch watching the grass grow or the shadows turn.
By comparison, studies increasingly show that playing "violent" games increases aggressive behavior. But the question everyone forgets to ask is, doesn't playing (as well as watching) football, soccer, racquetball, basketball, baseball, wrestling, boxing, etc. too?
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I'm a retired Therapist and I play video games daily.I see no connection between playing video games and aggressive behavior.On the other hand I believe that playing video games is a form of therapy,it allows a person to release any and all of their anger in a way that is non threating towards anyone.Ask yourself this question,is it better to focus your anger on a video game or on a human being.Would you rather have you son,daughter,or yourself to play 25 to Life on PS 3 or act it out in real life.Also I believe video game can be very educational as well as helping the players to live some of their fantasies.Whats wrong with wanting to be a super hero.Just food for thought.Its 10 pm do you know where your children at.
Studies have been conducted in this area for a length of time on this subject already. Still the studies are inconclusive for the time being. Taking into consideration the events in the media this past year; Columbine,Virginia Tech, but to name a few, did not prove the direct correlation between violent gaming and the events that took place. Athletes who abused steroids are more prone to violent acts then gamers although no studies were conducted in this area. The point is the individuals who committed the acts were obviously at their breaking points who acted out in the only way they themselves knew how. Unfortunately because of the games available today (FPS) some have chose to link the two as an excuse to eliminate this genre from gaming.