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Games Entertainment

Video Games Found To Decrease Brain Activity 726

Posted by CmdrTaco from the tekken-combos-are-not-in-the-sats dept.
Richard C writes "A Japanese researcher, Akio Mori, from the Nihon University's College of Humanities and Sciences, claims to have found a link between the playing of video games and the balance of activity in the brain. It is also claimed that this effect can cause behavioural changes, such as lack of concentration, difficulty with social association, and short temper. These effects are also thought to be, to some extent, nonreversible." I was gonna say something witty and insightful here, but I can't think of anything. At least I can't make a windows machine stable enough to run Neverwinter or my brain would be toast.
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Video Games Found To Decrease Brain Activity More

Video Games Found To Decrease Brain Activity

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  • Huh? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Alomex ( 148003 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:09PM (#3845545) Homepage

    Huh?

    • Re:Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Citizen of Earth ( 569446 )
      Huh?

      Basically, the researcher is saying that people with ADD have a neurological problem that causes them to seek stimulation in the form of video games and that ADD also causes other problems in life. ADD is caused by a lack of arousal in the brain under normal circumstances, so these people must seek external arousal.

      This is standard issue "third-variable" research in linking two things together. I'm sure that the same researcher will discover a correlation between lack of normal brain arousal and low income next month. Then it will be video games and criminal behaviour. Then video games and hard music. Then hard music and criminal behaviour. Then criminal behaviour and low income (unless you're an executive).
  • I've forgotten what I was going to say here, as playing Neverwinter has eroded my brain.

    *drool*
  • doesn't decrease brain activity as much as watching tv, i'd bet.

  • Ya.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by iONiUM ( 530420 )
    And I guess this is true. I'd say a good amount of people play/played video games throughout their life, and I'm pretty sure they're not any dumber.

    This comes off to me like the war on drugs: "Hey, people are enjoying themselves, we can't have that -- Get back to work"...

  • Professional game testers (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jonboy X ( 319895 ) <jonathan,oexner&alum,wpi,edu> on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:12PM (#3845567) Journal
    This doesn't bode well for professional game testers. They oughta get some kind of hazard pay for their weakening intellect.
  • I was gonna say something witty and insightful here, but I can't think of anything.

    That is the Most insightful thing you have ever said!!

  • Do research findings cancel each other out? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Junta ( 36770 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:12PM (#3845575)
    Haven't there been just as many studies showing the exact *opposite*? I guess it must mean that it does nothing at all in the end, since half of the reaearch shows one way, and half the other. I think it all depends on the agenda the researchs/financers start out to prove...
    • Haven't there been just as many studies showing the exact *opposite*?

      Yes [slashdot.org].

      Study: Playing Computer Games Makes Kids Smarter
      [News] Posted by CmdrTaco on Sun July 22, 02:52 PM
      from the i-knew-super-mario-bros-made-me-smarter dept.
      • It claims that video games can cause behavioural changes, such as lack of concentration [failing to read even the short article introduction on Slashdot], difficulty with social association [not getting any], and short temper [arguing non-objectively and in a personally attached manner as is common on Slashdot] . These effects are also thought to be, to some extent, nonreversible [continuing to not get any for the rest of your life]. It does not state that you are an idiot because you play video games.
    • "Haven't there been just as many studies showing the exact *opposite*? I guess it must mean that it does nothing at all in the end, since half of the reaearch shows one way, and half the other. I think it all depends on the agenda the researchs/financers start out to prove..."

      Doesn't it depend on what games you are playing and what games they are studying? This article doesn't tell what games were tested. Any gamer will tell you that not all games are equal. If they study only people who play quake3 for 17 hours per day, then I would expect some social problems there and concentration difficulties because you get to forget whatever you knew about the previous situation when the level changes or somwhat when you respawn.

      But what about people who plan games like Everquest, Ultima Online and the like? Don't those require interaction, investment of time and concentration to master and a big investment in knowledge and practice? What about in RPG and adventure games like System Shock 2, Thief and those classic LucasArts adventures? The campaign is dependent on what happenned before and you have to remember what happenned.

      I think that this study does not give enough context to justify its results. A game is not just any old game. There is an enormous variety ou there. Each game has its unique characteristics and it is probably possible to find games that are excercise for the brain. The Incredible Machine, anyone?

      [Ok so I am quoting some hopelessly old games, but University and work are taking over my life and I don't have time to play the newest games anymore.]

  • Does this mean I can sue Blizzard/Bioware/SSi?

    Jaysyn
  • ... might as well keep at it. I was taught never to do things half-way! Psychosis, here I come!


  • What happened to all that crap about hand eye coordination, and tomorrows kids will have such reflexes due to the constant training on flight sims and driving games. No really i'm not trying to be funny. I know many games that improve your prblem solving and managment (decision ) making skills.
  • all along my lack of concentration, difficulty with social association, and short temper have been a result of video games! I disagree. I can play a game like counter-strike for hours at a time and never lose concentration. I type to my opponents witty remarks like "that was bs!" all the time, and receive similarly witty replies - I've made some great virtual friends through gaming. Lastly, it takes at least 3 or 4 deaths for me to get pissed that some noob/hacker killed me. This may be funny, but it's true too!

    • Re:I see clearly now... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Moonshadow ( 84117 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:29PM (#3845744)
      Sure, games might improve your situational analysis skills and such, to a degree, but once you hit something that wasn't covered in the game, you're toast.

      ie, a social situation. People don't have pretty menus and interfaces, and you're not given a choice of three things to say.

      People who constantly socialize and interact with others are much lighter on their verbal feet than people who play games all day long. Take your l33t interacting skills into a crowded (real life) room and see how well typing "t A/S/L??? " works.

      Games aid your decision making skills withing a certain ruleset. They don't hone your decision making skills outside of that game. For example, if you were attacked by a gun-wielding maniac, based on your gaming, you should run around till you find a gun bigger than his, charge him head on, and pump a round of flak into his gut, and promptly find a health pack to heal your flesh wound. Somehow, I don't think that would work too well.

      Not you, but some other guy mentioned Civilization. Playing Civilization makes you as qualified to make decisions that would affect the economy as a goldfish is qualified to be an ocean predator.

      Games don't give you real-life skills or abilities - they give you a source of escape and relaxation.

      IMO, this rates fairly high on the Duh-O-Meter.

      • Re:I see clearly now... (Score:5, Funny)

        by PacoTaco ( 577292 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:41PM (#3845852)
        For example, if you were attacked by a gun-wielding maniac, based on your gaming, you should run around till you find a gun bigger than his, charge him head on, and pump a round of flak into his gut, and promptly find a health pack to heal your flesh wound. Somehow, I don't think that would work too well.

        You're not from America, are you?

      • Re:I see clearly now... (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Based on your argument, nothing is worth learning because it applies only to certain, very limited, situations. I'm afraid I have to disagree. Playing video games may not give you skills directly related to much else, but they can help indirectly.

        Any game (well, almost any game) has problems to solve and goals that must be reached. Beating a game can take dedication, concentration, skill, logic, manual dexterity, observation, memory, intuition, strategy, cunning, and a ridiculous number of other skills / traits.

        Just because you can't apply most things you 'learn' in games directly, doesn't mean they can't affect your intellect / skillset in a positive way.

      • Re:I see clearly now... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by jcsehak ( 559709 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @08:02PM (#3846262) Homepage
        Games don't give you real-life skills or abilities - they give you a source of escape and relaxation

        You make a valid point about how specific gaming skills rarely cross over into real life. But the thing about games, and the reason we play them at all, is that they excercise certain skills in a unique and valuable way. For example, less than a year ago my 5-year-old nephew was doing about normal in terms of hand/eye coordination. Then his parents got a gamecube, and he learned to play Simpsons Road Rage. Not long after, his drawing skills improved a LOT. Before, he was drawing people made of circles and lines, and now he makes highly detailed pictures of soldiers with armor and decorative swords, etc. Also, his confidence is way up, due to the fact that he can beat his dad at the game once in a while (without letting him win, I might add). This is exactly the same reason we play games like baseball, air hockey, or chess. Not because they have a direct correlation to real-life activities, but because it feels good to sharpen different skills, useful or not.

        That said, while playing Tetris might improve some sort of shape-visualization part of the brain, playing EverQuest likely exercises nothing more than whichever finger you use to press "attack" with. Video games are like TV shows. Some improve you somehow and some are mindless entertainment (which isn't necessarily worthless). The author of the study would've done better to compare how different games affect your brain, rather than try to make a sweeping generalization about a huge and complex genre.

      • Correlation and causation... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by sterno ( 16320 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @08:20PM (#3846332) Homepage
        This seems to be another case where there may be a strong correlation but debatable causation. If you have bad social skills you are far more likely to engage in introverted hobies, included amongst those is playing video games.

        Also, I'd be very curious to see a study showing the relation between different kinds of games and brain activity. Does playing a stategic game alter the effects versus a shoot 'em up kind of game. Seems to me that a puzzle solving game is probably going to have a different effect than say pac man.

        Finally, I'm curious as to what his conclusions are actually saying. I'm not a neurologist so I can't comment with any real expertise, but I've done a little research about brain waves, mental states, etc. I had always been under the impression that having a brain heavily in alpha waves was good. This is, as I understand it, the state one is supposed to be in when meditating. So is this necessarily a bad thing?

  • Has it occured to anyone... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hackwrench ( 573697 ) <hackwrench@hotmail.com> on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:14PM (#3845591) Homepage Journal
    that maybe the reason that it decreases brain activity is because the brain has gotten more efficient at doing tasks?
    • Interesting point. An athlete's heart beats slower when it's gotten strong enough to pump blood without as much effort...perhaps cerebral functions are similar?
    • Dude, you're a genius. That's just... Trippy. I guess I need to go ahead and finish NWN so that my brain will work efficiently enough to think up stuff like this.

      Whoa. Best thing I've read on slashdot today. If you weren't already modded up to five, I'd post a link in my journal for this comment.

    • Re:Has it occured to anyone... (Score:5, Informative)

      by yali ( 209015 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:37PM (#3845820)

      Yeah, except that there are differences among gamers and non-gamers at rest, too. And it's not very adaptive for your brain to have no beta activity when you're supposed to be awake.

      As an aside, before everyone shouts "it's a correlational study blah blah" it's worth pointing out that this study combines a within-subjects experimental manipulation (compares brain activity at rest to activity during gaming) with a correlational variable (compares the effect of the experimental manipulation between gamers and non-gamers). The experimental effect of gaming is strongest in people who game regularly, but it's there for everybody except people who never game.

      • Re:Has it occured to anyone... (Score:5, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 08, 2002 @07:09PM (#3846014)
        As an aside, before everyone shouts "it's a correlational study blah blah" it's worth pointing out that this study combines a within-subjects experimental manipulation (compares brain activity at rest to activity during gaming) with a correlational variable (compares the effect of the experimental manipulation between gamers and non-gamers). The experimental effect of gaming is strongest in people who game regularly, but it's there for everybody except people who never game.

        Words to big. Me play quake now.

      • The math... (Score:2, Informative)

        by The Creator ( 4611 )
        The biggest problem with this study is that people were not selected randomly into each group. Because of this some of the measured effect maby coming from the fact that same people game more than others for a reason. It may be that a brain that reacts in a sertain way get's more pleasure from gaming then others. (This could be compared to those studies that "proved" that living together before marrige causes increased risk of divorce.) Note that i don't claim that the conclusions of the study are wrong, just that the mechanism of choosing how a person ends up in what group can effect the results. And i don't see any method of preventing such bias in the study.

    • This reminds me of a study where they measured the brain activity of people playing Tetris for the first time. It showed they used a significant proportion of their brain in playing the game.
      After a while of continuous playing, they measured the brain again and found that only a small proportion was being used. They theoried that the brain optimised itself so that it took less brain power to play the game. (ie newer brain connections were created to solve the problem that is tetris)

    • Re:Has it occured to anyone... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by metacell ( 523607 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @08:01PM (#3846259)
      I think there's a very, very simple reason gaming decreases brain activity... ... Because games make you relax. When people are tense and winded-up, the brain has a high activity (lots of alpha waves). When people wind down and start feeling relaxed, brain activity goes down. Lots of people play exactly for this reason: it makes them relaxed. People who game regularly quickly get into the relaxed mode when they start playing. Their brains are conditioned to relax once they hit the 'start' button. People who never play computer games, find it hard and challenging to play, so their brains go on having a high activity. I think we would get exactly the same results if we studied people who meditate regularly, and compared them to people who never meditate. The people who meditate regularly would wind down quickly once they started, and their brain waves would calm down. The people meditating for the first time wouldn't experience any relaxing effect, so their brains would go on having a high activity. Winding down brain activity is often seen as something desirable.

  • Which game(s)? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anarchos ( 122228 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:14PM (#3845593) Homepage
    The first thing that I would like to know is which games were played? I would expect there to be a large difference in brain wave patterns between Pong and an RTS or Strategy game, which would require strategic thinking, game theory, and multitasking. Also, it seems as if the researcher may have had a negative attitude towards video games prior to the study.
    • would require strategic thinking, game theory, and multitasking

      Damnit, my Knights keep getting suckered away from the Nash equilibirum!

      dabacon
    • It should make a hell of a difference. Specially if those other players can be get to known. I think meeting people face to face is much better than any online multiplayer RPG, but it will make a hell of a diference.
  • I've played a lot of strategy games in my life, the Civilization series, various SimCity games, Alpha Centauri, various RTS and war games. If anything, these games have made me MORE intelligent by finding different solutions to different problems. Fast-paced action games might suppress the thinking parts of the brain, so you can concentrate on not getting blown up, etc. That, and thinking too much causes hesitation, which causes death in the game.

    • Re:Depends. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Sebastopol ( 189276 )
      If anything, these games have made me MORE intelligent by finding different solutions to different problems.

      Yes, but that's your subjective interpretation of what you think is happening inside your head, and not what it's actually doing.

      I've played a variety of sims and RTS games, and I have just the opposite criticism of them.

      RTS and sims become rote exercises, not challenging puzzles.

      I would say, doesn't Starcraft simply turn into a race of who can execute the same plan faster? In fact, that is why Blizzard made WC3 so much faster and with more variables, so that people couldn't just do the same thing every time.

      I would also say that good interactive fiction doesn't fall into this category because there are no images at all, required the creative capacity of one half of the brain and the abstract puzzle solving ability of the other. But you can only play an interactive fiction game once and get the same rush.

    • Re:Depends. (Score:4, Funny)

      by Monkeyman334 ( 205694 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:24PM (#3845696)

      You must be kidding. In fact, you just reminded me of a hilarious comic strip from the far side. I thought I'd share it with the group [classicgaming.com]. Hell, with thinking like that, who needs to spend the thousands I'm spending on college, I could spend $40 on a video game!

    • Re:Depends. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by hoggoth ( 414195 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:36PM (#3845814) Journal
      > I've played a lot of strategy games in my life [...] these games have made me MORE intelligent by finding different solutions to different problems.

      Since you've master those problems, here are some slightly more difficult problems for you to tackle:

      1) Start a new company, grow it to the point where it employees hundreds of people, and go public for millions. Repeat.

      2) Get laid. Get so good at it that you can walk into any social situation and walk out with someone you just met.

      3) Find a person who perfectly compliments your own strengths and faults, marry them, create a strong and lasting marriage, have kids, and raise them to be excellent people.

      you get the idea...
      I find these games to be much more challenging and rewarding than most video games.

      The training of video games does NOT necessarily translate to real life.

      • Re:Depends. (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Renraku ( 518261 )
        First of all, the entire point of games, or entertainment for that matter, is to get away from things like that. To do something that doesn't REALLY matter that much, and have fun while doing it. Not everyone is in the position to start a business, get laid every other day, or start a family. Not everyone wants too, for that matter. Its not likely that learning to defend your cities will translate much into real world situations, but it sure as hell teaches you to be prepared and to not put all your eggs in one basket. You can say that games make you less intelligent, and that we can't tell that video games make us less intelligent, and so can scientists for that matter, but it doesn't mean its true for everyone. When I play Counter-Strike, I learn from almost every round. Maybe I won't use that info in real life unless I plan on storming any cs_assault-like buildings, but it teaches you fundamentals. If you screw up, learn what you did wrong, and don't do it again. Neh.

      • Re:Depends. (Score:4, Funny)

        by Isldeur ( 125133 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @08:27PM (#3846367)

        Since you've master those problems, here are some slightly more difficult problems for you to tackle:

        2) Get laid. Get so good at it that you can walk into any social situation and walk out with someone you just met.

        3) Find a person who perfectly compliments your own strengths and faults, marry them, create a strong and lasting marriage, have kids, and raise them to be excellent people.

        you get the idea...
        I find these games to be much more challenging and rewarding than most video games.

        You mean like The Sims? I *Love* that game! :)
  • Well, I guess I'll just go back to sitting on my front porch drinking 'shine, tokin weed and sniffin' paint.
  • i have spent more hours of my life playing doom and then civilization then i care to think about but... umm... what was i writing about?

    why do i even talk to you people anyway! what's the point! stop bothering me dammit! GO AWAY!

    umm... err...
  • "During childhood, playing outside with friends, not videogames, is the best option."

    How dare he!

    But seriously.. doesn't this deserve a big "Well, duh"? ...then again, playing video games outside does sound intriguing... ;)

  • What are they talking about? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Neck_of_the_Woods ( 305788 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:16PM (#3845620) Journal
    Well hell I could have told you that. I play them to veg out, not deal with people, and enjoy loosing my temper at something I can take it out on. I also find that I become "SuperNeck" while I play, and the Uberness follows me into the hours after I stop playing. I was wondering why when I was running around with my grill lighter, with the flame at max screaming "MAHALITO!" people looked at me funny.

  • Ways to capitalize on this situation:

    1) Sue Squaresoft / Nintendo / ID / Insert your favorite video game manufacturer here for the pain and suffering I experienced in high school for a lack of social skills (I didn't see no warning label)!

    2) Sue any employer for refusing to hire me on the grounds on a lack of social skills. I can now call it a handicap.

    3) Workers Comp!

  • Never the same after the Baldur's Gate series (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fastball ( 91927 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:20PM (#3845661) Journal
    I must have spent an entire calendar month, actual man hours, pressing through the Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II series a couple of winters ago. And I can say during that stretch, that I was shit for productivity when at work.

    That said, I don't think it should be limited to video games. I've always said that I could be a terrific programmer if I didn't have to do it for a living. Some nights when I go home from work, I just go on coding binges that last well into the night (say around 4am). I learn infinitely more and expand my skill sets immeasureably compared to the task juggling I perform at work. Of course, I go into work, and I'm exhausted, unmotivated, and cranky. A real Catch-22.

  • What kind of games were they playing? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by forkboy ( 8644 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:20PM (#3845663) Homepage
    His research seems fairly sound except that he doesn't really state what kind of games they were playing...

    For instance, when I was chronically playing Everquest, I noticably felt myself getting dumber and dumber by the day. I had trouble learning new things at work and a hard time thinking about little else but Everquest.

    Now that I only play games a few hours a week and mostly play strategy-type games that actually require some higher mental thought processes, I learn things as easily as I always have. (Quite useful now that I'm back in college!)

    Also, I'm curious to know if the game players were chosen from a group of people who didn't normally play games or if they were surveyed to already be video game players and then examined...I say this because people of that particular brain wave pattern (low beta) may already be inclined to anti-social behavior and short temper, and just play video games quite often since it suits them. (the old addage corelation does not mean causality)

  • The guy responsible for making a video game to find new talents for the army will probably get fired.
    Or were they in fact looking for:
    1/ people who don't use their prefrontal regions of their brains.
    2/ one being true: new ways to efficiently decrease the prefrontal regions activity of the brains of their soldiers.
    3/ 2/ being true: making one step further an army of clones and drones.
  • reading this article really sent something of a chill up my spine. i have done nothing but play games since i was about 12, and some of those traits mentioned do apply to me.

    causal fork? maybe. am i going to stop playing allied assault before i get out of that godd*mn exploding factory alive? not bloody likely.
    • Get your health up. Run your ass off. Shoot people in front of you, but never stop running. Learn to hit the quick-save at the same time as the run key. It wasn't too hard to get through the factory. It was getting from the factory to the damned train that kicked my butt.

  • I can say the only negative effects on me video games have caused are repetive stress aches in my thumbs. :(
  • The article talks about how this guy has found a "cause"; however, the researcher conducted a survey. That means he went out and asked a bunch of people: "How often do you play video games and for how long?" and then he checked their brainwaves and behavior. You don't get a causal conclusion out of that. The best you get is a correlation.

    It would be more fair to say that he's found that people who play more games have less brain activity.

    Who knows? Maybe the cause is the other way around: people with low brain activity play more video games?
    • Good god - it was a survey? Then his study gets a great big "No Fucking Shit" from me. Except he got it completely ass backwards. I was tempermental, short-attentioned, and downright psychotic in my youth. I didn't get into video games till I was 12.

      Now I'm a gamer nut. I'm a lot better balanced, but I don't try and attribute that to games, I attribute it to losing my virginity. Whatever.

      My point is - antisocial violent pissed off friendless losers like videogames a lot (violence, escapism, and a vague substitute for the human contact they couldn't get if they wanted it). The cause and effect goes the other way.
    • I completely agree. This is another "study" or "survey" that looks at a cause and effect yet does not make any strong argument whatsoever as to which is the cause and which is the effect:

      "Many of the people in this group told researchers that they got angry easily, couldn't concentrate, and had trouble associating with friends."

      Is it that because they play video games that they get angry, can't concentrate and have no friends or is it that they have no friends because they get angry and lack entertaining creativity so thus they play video games for some form of entertainment.

      Another one of my favorites in this same category is studies that 'show' that people who live together before marriage tend to get divorced at a higher rate. What is the cause and what is the effect? Is it that because people have lived together before marriage that causes them to later get divorced (aka a direct cause of the divorce) or is it *perhaps* they lived with someone because they could not find anyone else and *did not* want to get married but later said, "what the hell" and got married anyway (aka simply a symptom and by no means a cause of the divorce).

      Studies and reports like this that draw a conclusion without a strong argument with evidence are utter horeshit and the people who funded them should be able to sue for gross negligence. If one does not have the facts for a conclusive argument *do not make one*. In this case it should have simply stated, "there is a correlation between video game playing and people who are not creative, have no friends and are angry." It should not have even been implied that video games cause people to become angry, lose their creativity and lose all their friends.

      Now for me, I am angry but also creative and I have a few friends but yet I do not play video games. . . .hmm. . . .

  • Obligatory priceless... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Burning1 ( 204959 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:22PM (#3845680) Homepage

    20 console systems and 100 games... for 'research': $9000
    3 years salary for 10 scientists: $1,800,000
    Miscellaneou research costs: $400,000
    Discovering that sitting in a lab all day playing video games just might result in social issues?

    Priceless.


    There are some things money can't buy... For everything else; there's research grants.
  • Puzzle games have long proved otherwise. Just ask anyone who's played Tetris, The Incredible Machine, or, for the kids, Math Munchers, Oregon Trail (Pretty much anything originally by MECC), and the Where the Fsck is Carmen Sandiego series.

    However, it's well known that video games can increase your physical activity [ddrfreak.com], which in turn boosts your mental capacity, aptitude, and reaction time. :)
  • So after playing video games, peoples brains don't need to work as hard?

  • This is not true! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Lonath ( 249354 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:26PM (#3845716)
    They're just playing the wrong games. I have to use my brainpower and creativity to play my favorite game: KarmaQuest on Slashdot. If I just sit back don't think and post any microsoft rules old mpaa rocks crap lunix suxxx0rz, then I lose points.

    On the other hand, if I spend some time and get creative and construct a witty, self-referential post that admits that it's there to whore karma, then I can win a lot of points.
    • ---microsoft rules old mpaa rocks crap lunix suxxx0rz, then I lose points.

      Correct. However if you make it Micro$oft Sux0rz, MPAA sux my scholng and Linux rox0rs the w0rld, you get mod points. Also hiding goatse links in liew of good material get's tricked mods to "Mod YOU UP"

  • From the article: (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Osiris Ani ( 230116 )
    "And brain activity in the people who continually played games did not recover in the periods when they weren't playing games, the research showed."

    If they're continually playing games, then which period would that be?

    Of course, here we see an article of undetermined scientific merit, based upon the research of an individual (with a specific agenda) that has yet to see even a basic peer review. Where have we seen that type of thing before?

    Take it as you will.

  • Bad news comes in twos (Score:3, Funny)

    by uncoveror ( 570620 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:27PM (#3845726) Homepage
    Video games rot your brain, and bleaching hair causes brain damage. [uncoveror.com] Since today's kids love both of these, they may be so out of it by age forty that they need to be put in nursing homes!

  • Video games? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gwernol ( 167574 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:28PM (#3845736)
    After reading the article a couple of times trying to get past the poor Japanese->English translation I was left wondering if the actualt research makes any distinction between types of game. I would expect a game like Tetris would require very different brain activity from Quake, which in turn would be very different than that used to play EverQuest.

    A category like "video games" is so broad it may be meaningless. It will be interesting to see what the research actually says, rather than the press release about it.

  • Similar Japan Study (Score:3, Interesting)

    by slugfro ( 533652 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:31PM (#3845758) Homepage
    Just found this story [slashdot.org] in the /. archive about a different Japanese research project stating that gaming stunts the brain.
  • At least I can't make a windows machine stable enough to run Neverwinter or my brain would be toast

    Hey, Taco, get a Mac.

  • This Paper Doesn't Have the Best Science (Score:5, Informative)

    by ZarfMouse ( 154055 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:33PM (#3845784) Homepage Journal
    This is the second completely ludicrous science article I've read at this particular website in the last few weeks. It seems like they specialize in sensationalizing marginal psychological research results into weird moralistic conclusions. Cross reference this article about how fast food is turning japanese girls into sex maniacs:

    http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/0206/020619nymp hs .html
  • Does anyone else remember the article on slashdot a few months ago that said video games actually stimulate the mind and promote problem solving? Seems we always end up going in circles...

  • For laymen (Score:5, Informative)

    by blakestah ( 91866 ) <blakestah@gmail.com> on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:34PM (#3845795) Homepage
    These are EEG recordings. They placed scalp electrodes on the heads of these people while playing and not playing video games. The vast majority of these signals are close to 10 Hz, as was seen in the subjects.

    The differences occur in the higher frequency range. These ranges are associated with strenuous attentional focus, and were highest in normals, near zero in heavy game players.

    All this is restricted to prefrontal areas, which are the highest abstractest most creative planning areas.

    WAY blown out of proportion.

    Some background on brain waves from EEG [biocybernaut.com]

    Also, this is being presented at the Society for Neuroscience conference, so it is quite possible VERY preliminary.
  • Despite what half of the comments here would like to argue against, the article makes NO negative claims about intelligence level. Rather they're claiming it effects the emotions of a person.


  • On the surface, the facts seem to support the conclusion of Akio, and a lot of the facts about brainwaves and such sound pretty solid to me.

    Many of the people in this group told researchers that they got angry easily, couldn't concentrate, and had trouble associating with friends.

    But remember, this "group" is the people who play video games often. Now, think back to your school days: on average, what type of kid played video games all day long? The ones who had trouble getting along with others, the ones who were reclusive.

    What I'm implying is, perhaps these children's anger and social problems are the reason that they play video games all the time; and their playing of video games might not be the cause for their anger and social problems. I guess it depends on which came first; which is something that the study did not address to the best of my knowlege.
  • The only study that I will believe is one that make a positive correlation between playing video games and a decrease in one's ability to spell correctly.

    This study would then be followed by one involving video games and grammar.
  • It is also claimed that this effect can cause behavioural changes, such as lack of concentration, difficulty with social association, and short temper.

    Computer games are an exercise in stimulation, hence the lack of concentration when that stimulus is absent. This is very reminiscent of the "MTV generation" claims. I'll let the difficulty with social association when stuck in front of the computer for hours pass as self-evident. This leads to the short-temper. It can be caused by frustration in not getting your own way with immediate gratification (linked to first point). In real life, someone can't just type "stfu gayl0rd" to immediately close down a confrontation. They also can't evade or ignore confrontation in real life, which is easily done in a game. In fact it's not solely game related really. I've found I've become more short-tempered since I started working from home, as opposed to when I worked in an office. Mixing with other people is the only real cure. As for the non-reversible comment, I don't believe that. Anything you train yourself into you can retrain yourself out it.

    Phillip.

  • Which videogame genre(s)? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by GuyMannDude ( 574364 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @06:42PM (#3845858) Journal

    He divided the brain activity of participants into four categories -- naming the activity normal, visual, half-videogame, and videogame.

    He probably should have made more groups such as violent videogames, strategy videogames, etc. No where in the article did I see any reference to analyzing the genre of videogame on the subject's brainwaves. It would be interesting to see how/if the brainwave patterns changed when playing Duke Nukem IV: Death To Everyone, WWF Smackdown Vol. 7: The Women, and Pikachu's Happy Hopscotch. If there was no difference, then perhaps the results really don't mean shit.

    And the article never did say what was the "visual" group.

    GMD

  • So that's what's wrong with me! Quick, I need a lawyer. Who do I sue first?
  • The author of the article may have played one to many mortal combat sessions as well. Many important facts were just left out or ignored.

    Every few months a go through a couple week addiction to a title from the Sierra Builing series, such as Acropolis [amazon.com]. I believe this game actually increases intellect. How often does your mind have to balance 10 or so different conflicting priorities at once, such as entertainment needs, employeement problems, food supply, etc. Any need being address affects some of the others. Not only that, but you cannot directly affect anything (except tearing stuff down.) All actions you want to happen must be indirectly, and proactivly address. You cannot make food instanly out of thin air, you must built and employ people at forms to grow (or hunt) the food, staff a place to store it, staff stores which are located in strategic spots, etc.

    This is not the same type of game for example as mortal combat type, or first person shooters. They have a completly different affect on the person playing them.

    The author ignored, or failed to mention this whole issue.

    -Pete
    (amazon link above is an affiliate link...I love the game, I think other geeks may too.)

  • "Many videogames stir up tension and a feeling of fear, and there is concern that this could have an effect on the autonomic nerves," Mori said. "During childhood, playing outside with friends, not videogames, is the best option."

    I donno ... if you're one of those kids who regularly get the snot beaten out of them by the other kids, video games may lead to less tension and fear than playing outside.

    Of course, at that point you develop friendships that don't involve playing outside. And thus the geek is born.

  • I highly disagree with this finding. My brain activity is greatly increased while playing games. It causes critical thinking on levels that you may not find out in the "real" world on certain occasions.

    For example:

    Strategy: when playing games like hitman, ghost recon, and other strategy based mission games - you really have to think about what it is your doing. Paying close attention to the environment around you and (in all the really well made games) the sounds around you. You have to think about the best way to go about a mission so as to hopefully complete it with a perfect score.

    I like to play all my missions with a "one shot - one kill" mentality. I dont like to waste any more than one bullet to the head on my victims - and I like to have a 100% head-shot rating.

    This type of thing can be found in certain fields; military, police etc... but joe computer nerd's only oppurtunity to experience this is usually in front of the machine. And some of us get really good about this kind of thinking...

    Imagination: Many games lift your imagination and make you think of things - how you would like them - the way it could be etc... you dont get this as much with TV - when watching TV you just do that, sit and watch, and decompose. TV is not interactive no matter what marketing babble you hear... it is a totally passive activity.

    Character development and forethought: When playing games where you are building a character over a period of time - MMORPG or NWN style game, you have to think about what type of character you want to become - and how to grow that character into that. That does not take "decreased brain activity".

    and many other things - but its time for NWN so all my thought-cycles are being re-directed, so I'm outta here.

  • Isn't this why we play video games anyhow :)

    it was found that the longer people spent playing video games, the less activity they showed in the prefrontal region of their brains, which governs emotion and creativity.

    I don't know about you, but I play games to escape. I use "emotion and creativity" in my everyday activity...generally the reason you want to escape is the "emotional" part...

    Think about it..."I'm bored, I'll play a game"..."Wow, this new game is kewl, I've gotta play it" (read "this is much more interesting than my booring life")...Or even in some cases (GTA3, UT, Quake, etc) "I wanna kill something"

    Most every game I play is either to "fix" an emotion (boredom, depression, etc) or to experience a "pleasurable" emotion (violence, acomplishment, etc)

    brain activity in the people who continually played games did not recover in the periods when they weren't playing games ...and later...

    Beta wave activity in people in the videogame group, who spent between two and seven hours each day playing games, was constantly near zero even when they weren't playing, showing that they hardly used the prefrontal regions of their brains.

    Yea, if you're spending 7 hours of your day doing *ANYTHING* it's gonna have a negative effect on you...it's the same reason noone wants a repetitive job.

    Which makes me wonder, is this playing 1 game for 7 hours a day, or a variety of them over time???
  • One thing I wonder about is whether or not this is associated strictly with games, or merely using computers. I've noticed that I'm not as creative as I used to be since I've started programming for a living....

  • Tradeoffs? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kcbrown ( 7426 ) <slashdot@sysexperts.com> on Monday July 08, 2002 @07:10PM (#3846023)
    I have to wonder if there are also some benefits to playing videogames regularly, such as faster reflexes, increased ability to control vehicles, etc.

    I also wonder if there is some correlation between the intensity and/or longevity of the effects and age (I would expect that the effects are more pronounced and long-lasting in kids than adults, for instance).

  • I wonder what type of games he had his subjects playing. It seems to me, from personal experience, that playing MMORPGs are(or at least can be) a little more interactive than playing single player games. For example, I used to play Ultima Online, and I played with a group of the same people pretty regularly. We used VOIP to communicate with each other while playing. It seems to me that something like this would have an effect on your brain waves because you're interacting with other people while playing the game. It would be interesting if someone did a study about the difference between MMORPGs and single player games with this in mind.

    Just my two cents

  • Yeah... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Dranion ( 515825 )
    it was found that the longer people spent playing video games, the less activity they showed in the prefrontal region of their brains, which governs emotion and creativity.

    I'm confused about this. I would think that less activity in the sections of the brain that govern emotions would lead to apathy, not to a shorter temper or anger.

    The only issue I take is with the decrease in creativity. There are several games (MUCKS/MUDS come to mind) that encourage creativity in the form of building or roleplay. If you're not creative, there is no way you can pretend to be something that you're not.

    Jumping around a bit more... the quote states that the decrease in activity was most readily seen in people that game a lot. I ask you this... wouldn't reading do the same thing to you? If came home and read all day, it would most likely affect your social skills and decrease your overall creativity as well.
  • Prolonged time playing video games could cause people to lose concentration, get angry easily and have trouble associating with others, a Japanese professor's research has suggested.

    My own research has proven the following startling possibilities:

    Crossing the street could result in immediate violent death.

    Flying in a plane could result in impacting the ground at extremely high speeds, thereby resulting in death.

    Followers of any religion could develop more fanatical views and act out in anti-social ways.

    All life on Earth could be wiped out by a large meteor impact that we shall discover 3 days after impact.

    Oh, and of course, sitting around all day watching TV or playing games could rot your brain. I think that research has been done before, but its good to keep bringing it up. Parents need to keep abreast of this research so they have an excuse to get their kids off the computer when they otherwise won't listen to anything the parents say.

    How was this research conducted? What was the initial purpose of the reasearch to begin with? Did they set out to prove (or disprove) the results they ended up with? So you set out to prove that iodine is bad for rats. Take 100 10 ounce rats and inject them with 5 ounces of iodine each. 99 rats die, and one escapes prior to injection. From this, you can prove that iodine could be fatal to rats. You can prove that large doses of iodone are not fatal to rats in some circumstances (the rat escapes). And in the end, we've learned nothing.

    Research causes cancer in rats. Move along. Move along

    -Restil
  • I'd be interested to see if there's a difference not just between gamers and non-gamers, but between people who play video games and other types of games. Does a pencil-and-paper RPG like AD&D have the same effect as a computer RPG like Neverwinter Nights? How does a "twitch" game like a first-person shooter compare to a real-life game that requires fast reflexes, such as ping pong? What about chess, or crossword puzzles, or Scrabble?

    The main question that this study leaves unanswered is the cause of these effects. Is it the content of the games? Or is there something special, from a neurological standpoint, about playing games on a TV or computer screen as opposed to in real life?

    Cheers,
    IT
  • Seems like the causation in this study is going the wrong direction-- difficulty with social association et al would tend to make one more likely to want to play video games, where those attributes aren't a detriment. Video games require 0 social association, they don't care if you yell and scream at them and generally make an ass of yourself (unless you actually break the game, of course), and you don't have to concentrate on anything outside the screen.
  • Perhaps this has to do with what is getting optimized. If he is studying games that place a premium on fast reaction times, then it makes perfect sense that extraneous computations would tend to be filtered out as players became more trained to the mind set required by the game. Conversely, they might become more acutely aware of certain sensory stimulii.

    Learning to perform any activity causes the thought processes to optimise themselves to perform that activity. This seems obvious. I would hardly expect game playing to be any different. Games of strategy would probably not exhibit this effect, but also would not encourage quick reactions. etc.

  • Mainichi Daily News [mainichi.co.jp] isn't exactly a top quality news source. They have articles like:

    There are tons more articles like this on MDN. It's their specialty.

  • The military has known this for a long-time... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by DaoudaW ( 533025 ) on Monday July 08, 2002 @09:57PM (#3846851)
    The military must have been aware of this effect for some time. The use of video-game style simulators has greatly increased the percentage of soldiers who are willing to unthinkingly shoot to kill when under threat. In WWII, it was less than 50% in the most recent conflicts over 90%. I've heard military trainers say that videogame programmers are doing the job for them. They are making military training much easier as young recruits join the military without emotional "baggage" about killing.

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