Nov 30 2006
Violent Video Games Emotionally Arousing Teens
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine wanted to find out what happens in the brain when teens play video games. They selected 44 teens with no history of behavior problems and asked them to play video games:
Half played a T-rated (for Teen) first-person shooter game called Medal of Honor: Frontline, involving military combat, while the other group played a nonviolent game called Need for Speed: Underground.
After playing, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study what happened in the teen’s brains and found some interesting results:
“Our 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,” said Dr. Vincent Mathews, a professor of radiology at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis and the study’s author.
[...]
“What we showed is there is an increase in emotional arousal. The fight or flight response is activated after playing a violent video game,” Mathews said.
Well, how does this activated fight or flight response effect teens?
“During tasks requiring concentration and processing of emotional stimuli, the adolescents who had played the violent video game showed distinct differences in brain activation than the adolescents who played an equally exciting and fun – but nonviolent – game,” Dr. Mathews said. “Because of random assignment, the most likely factor accounting for these differences would be the group to which the volunteers were assigned.”
Said another way:
The brain scans showed more activity in brain areas tied to emotional arousal — and less activity in brain areas linked to self-control — in the violent video game group.
Bottom line; violent video games cause teens to become more emotionally aroused and lowers their self-control. As a parent, I’m thinking that’s not such a good combination.
The researchers are quick to point-out that this is only one study and the long-term effects are not yet known. However, these first results give us all something to think about…
December 6th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
These games do produce an increase in rage and your emotions but wouldn’t you rather see it on a tv screen than at school or at home? After a frustrating day, theres no better, safe output for all the testosterone youve been saving up all day. Nothing beats being james bond and utterly destroying everybody! This is a good output for frustration rather than getting in a fight or an argument.