Nov 28, 2006 8:05 pm US/Pacific
Study: Violent Video Games May Rewire Teen Brain
by Kim Mulvihill, M.D.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
For years, parents have wondered what effects violent video games may have on their kids. New research shows the video games may cause real changes in the brain.
Researchers used what's called a functional MRI to look at what went on in the brain -- not during -- but after a teenager played a violent video game. What they recorded were fleeting metabolic changes.
The results are cause for concern.
"What we're exposed to is clearly going to affect what we learn, how connections are made, what areas of our brain get more developed or less developed," said Susan Smiga, a psychiatrist at UC San Francisco.
Using MRIs, researchers studied the brains of 34 healthy teens who played an exciting video game. Half played a violent combat game. The other half played a non-violent racing game. The teens were then asked to perform simple tasks while their brains were scanned.
In teens who played the violent video game, the MRIs showed part of their brain linked to primitive emotions, such as fear, aggression and anxiety, fired up more than that region in the other group of teens.
The part of their brain linked to reason, self-control, and concentration was far less activated.
While the MRIs showed fleeting changes in the brain, the impact may be greater than science can now measure, Smiga said.
"In my own clinical practice, we see children, usually boys, who are having significant aggression problems, who are usually watching or playing a lot of these games, who have a hard time differentiating violence in those games from reality," Smiga said.
Editor's Note:
For additional information on children and video games, see Related Links on the right side of this page.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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