Bangalore, Nov. 28: Violent video games and its effect on brain is one of the most hotly debated topic among scientists, if we go by the research findings presented today violent video games has a long-term effect on brain functioning.
A study paper presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) showed that a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis found changes in brain regions associated with cognitive function and emotional control in young adult.
As there was no scientific evidence suggesting any long term side effect of violent video game playing on functioning of adult brain, game developer companies defended higher and higher level of violence and earned hefty money at the cost of future generation. But, with the release of latest study it will help social as well as physiological scientists to put their case more emphatically.
A group of researchers led by Yang Wang, M.D., assistant research professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, studied the effect of violent video game on 22 adults aged between 18 and 29.
They divided the group in two parts of 11 each. One group was told to play shooting video game for 10 hours a day for a week and refrain from playing in following week. And second group was told not to play violent game at all during the two week period.
After two-week period both the group members underwent fMRI, pre and post the two week period. During the fMRI the members completed an emotional interface task and cognitive inhibition counting task.
Surprisingly, the result showed that the group that played violent game showed less activation in the left inferior frontal lobe during the emotional task and less activation in the anterior cingulate cortex during the counting task.
"For the first time, we have found that a sample of randomly assigned young adults showed less activation in certain frontal brain regions following a week of playing violent video games at home," said Yang Wang.
"These brain regions are important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior," he added.
