Brain regions can be specifically trained
Video gaming causes increases in the brain regions responsible for spatial orientation, memory formation and strategic planning, as well as fine motor skills. This has been shown in a study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Charité University Medicine St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus. The positive effects of video gaming may also prove relevant in therapeutic interventions targeting psychiatric disorders.
To investigate how video games affect the brain, scientists in Berlin asked adults to play the video game Super Mario 64 for 30 minutes a day over a period of two months. A control group did not play video games. Brain volume was quantified using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Compared with the control group, the video-gaming group showed increases in grey matter — the tissue in which the cell bodies of the brain's nerve cells are situated. These plasticity effects were observed in the right hippocampus, right prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum, brain regions involved in spatial navigation, memory formation, strategic planning and fine motor skills of the hands. Most interestingly, these changes were more pronounced the more desire the participants reported to play the game.
"While previous studies have shown differences in the brain structure of video gamers, the present study can demonstrate the direct causal link between video gaming and a volumetric brain increase. This proves that specific brain regions can be trained by means of video games," says study leader Simone Kühn, senior scientist at the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. On this basis, Kühn and her colleagues suggest that video games could be therapeutically useful for patients with mental disorders in which brain regions are altered or reduced in size — for example schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's dementia.
"Many patients will accept video games more readily than other medical interventions," adds psychiatrist Jürgen Gallinat, co-author of the study at Charité University Medicine St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus. Further studies into the effects of video gaming in patients with mental health issues are planned, and a study on the effects of video gaming in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder is currently ongoing.
Source: Max Planck Institute