


Videogames Affect Your Brain 98
ozmm writes "A story on GameSpot explains the concept of 'mirror neurons.' When we shoot a gun, certain neurons fire in our brain. When we see someone else shoot a gun, even a video game character, the exact same neurons fire. How do virtual reactions affect our lives and thoughts? This short but sweet article touches on all of this and more." From the article: "We can tell if someone is watching a television by the way that person is facing it--even if we can't see or hear if the television is even on. It also means that we can experience the mental states associated with actions without ever having to perform those actions. In video games, in particular, it's like we're automatically empathizing with what is happening on the screen as if we were the video game characters ourselves. If you've ever had a particularly heart-palpitating race in Burnout, surely you can relate."
In a sad little room somewhere... (Score:3, Funny)
Could an octopus play WoW? (Score:3, Interesting)
My slug of a cow-orker manages it (Score:2, Interesting)
That being said, he used t
I can hear the liberals already... (Score:1)
Luckily for us, shooting a gun is perfectly legal. I can goto any range in the area and squeze off a few rounds. Now, what would really be interesting is if it is the same nuerons (and only the same) that fire when someone shoots a gun intending to kill some one.
-Rick
Re:I can hear the conservatives already... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:I can hear the conservatives already... (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you mean the children Tipper Gore was seeking to protect with the PMRC? The children that Bill Clinton was protecting backing the V-chip? The children that Democrat senators are protecting by introducing anti-video game legislation?
Don't think that conservatives have a strangle hold on snooping on Americans and restricting rights.
Re:I can hear the conservatives already... (Score:2)
-Rick
Re:I can hear the conservatives already... (Score:1)
Re:I can hear the conservatives already... (Score:2)
Someone who is (politically) conservative doesn't want change. These are the people who will defend the constitution and depend on legal precedence. (IOW, these people make good supreme court justices).
Someone who is (politically) liberal wants change. These are the people who see the problems with the current situation and want to correct it. (IOW, t
Re:I can hear the conservatives already... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I can hear the conservatives already... (Score:2)
* resistant to change
* opposed to liberal reforms
* cautious: avoiding excess; "a conservative estimate"
* a person who has conservative ideas or opinions
Definitions of liberal on the Web:
* broad: showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; "a broad political stance"; "generous and broad sympathies"; "a liberal newspaper"; "to
Re:I can hear the conservatives already... (Score:1)
Both no longer have their original meanings (Score:2)
Originally liberalism meant ensuring the individual had as much freedom as possible. This includes the respionsibilty for your choices both good and bad. Modern liberalism seeks to minimize the individuals choice, and to replace it with what the "educated elites" in government decide are the proper choices.
E.G. firearm ownership and self-defense bad, involuntary redistribution of wealth (social security) good.
Modern conservatism does th
Ahem, (Score:2)
"Classical liberalism focuses on concepts of individual autonomy and private property, and argues that the sole legitimate function of government is to defend these."
"Modern liberalism tends to deviate from this definition of the term "liberal" in that it espouses the use of the power of government to achieve a variety of desirable goals, ranging from social justice to economic equality."
The first is Liberal as in Liberty oriented. The second is Authoritarian.
Re:I can hear the conservatives already... (Score:1, Insightful)
Odd how both groups can feel justified accusing each other of the same thing, no?
Re:Liberals? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not claiming to be for or against either side. But theoretically atleast, a political conservative (not a moral conservative) would be against the introduction of new censorship laws. What I'm most affraid of is morally conservative liberals
Re:Liberals? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hehe... It would be a good span. At least easy to remember.
I can definatly agree at least in "feeling". Saw a cop shoot at a woman who was trying to run him down with her car the other day. I kept thinking through what I would have done if I'd had my 9mm ruger with me that afternoon. Although, I must say, that I think I wouldn't have missed as badly as he did.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:I can hear the liberals already... (Score:2)
-Rick
Re:I can hear the liberals already... (Score:3, Informative)
Attacks on our freedom have their genesis on both sides of the aisle.
Re:I can hear the liberals already... (Score:2)
Re:I can hear the liberals already... (Score:2)
Re:I can hear the liberals already... (Score:1)
I was in the mall and saw an poster ad by the Ad Council and it was a picture of a female teenager walking in the mall and in the background there was a sign on the clothing store that said "you must be 18 to buy clothes in this store." ant he caption on the photo said to the effect that you ne
Most Definately. (Score:3, Funny)
Ummm... (Score:5, Insightful)
So that makes watching a movie different from playing a game... how?
Re:Ummm... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ummm... (Score:2)
Re:Ummm... (Score:2)
In a movie, you're living more vicariously through the characters, and you don't have any control over their actions. Except maybe screaming at the screen "They're right behind you!"
Re:Ummm... (Score:2)
And according to the article, the same neurons fire in your brain whether you are doing or watching, so there's no real difference.
Videogames and brains (Score:4, Insightful)
Also I've fired a gun, and I've played Quake. I get two very different feelings from both. Perhaps their test subjects weren't "used" to gaming and thus less able to separate the fantasy from the reality?
Phew... (Score:2)
ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:5, Insightful)
Pseudoscientific Terms? Check.
Pictures of Latest Games? Check.
Complete Lack Of Hard Data Whatsoever? Check.
Congradulations audience. YHJBT.
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:1)
2. Rock and Roll - This new Rock and Roll is driving our kids to do destructive things (and be sex crazed maniacs)
3. Heavy Metal - See #2
4. D & D - See #1 - 3
5. Video Games - See #1 - 4
6. ???
7. Blaming everything but our kids and our own parenting skills (Profit???)
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:2)
The military uses video game technology to train soldiers to kill. They know that video games make violent behaviors come more naturally. It's a proven fact by now, and all the Slashdot posts in the world won't change that.
The military trains soldiers to deal with violent situations in a calm, controlled manner. It doesn't brainwash them to be violent, unpredictable psychopaths.
I might concede that violent media de-sensitizes people to violence - although I still think most people's b
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:1)
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:2, Informative)
Following your Google link, I found this interesting essay Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked [pbs.org] - (one of the myths debunked is the 'The military uses video games' argument...)
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, that makes sense. *rolls eyes*
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:1)
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:2)
Please try reading the subject of the comment: "ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out" If you knew what "eat your heart out" meant, perhaps you would be enlightened. I suggest looking it up.
Ohhhhh, NOW I see where you're coming from. You thought someone might be attacking you, and you had to reply.
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:1)
See, here's someone else making a stupid argument
Is that right?
If so, it still doesn't need to be said. I could just as equally said: "Solipsists eat your heart out!" or "Matrix-fighters eat your heart out!" or "Slashdot Readers who think they have girlfriends, eat your heart out!*" All with the same meaning.
My point stands clear and unscathed: The comment is still flame-bait, trying to involve religious politics to a topic that requi
No, that's not right at all. (Score:1)
The ID stuff wasn't the goal of the post, it was just a point of reference.
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:2)
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:1)
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:2)
The purpose of the original post was, in part, to draw parallels between the pseudoscience of ID and this article linking violence to video games.
If you're offended by this, then quite frankly, that offends me.
I'm tired of persistent ID'ers and their vacuous refrains. We're not going to listen to your asinine diatribes without pointing out that they are in fact asinine. Fundamentalism is an evil, evil thing.
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:1, Insightful)
Slash-tard posting anti-ID message in a thread which has nothing to do with ID? Check.
Re:ID'ers Eat Your Heart Out. (Score:2)
KIds with ADHD (Score:3, Insightful)
This is the same concept that modern neurofeedback treatment uses.
Re:KIds with ADHD (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not sure which neurofeeback techniques you're specifically talking about, but I'm going to assume it's the type where they strap sensors to your head to measure your brainwaves.
That technique works because it teaches you to directly manage your neural state. The use of games is a quick and easy way to make the system palatable for children.
They could just as easily show you what they want your brainwave to look like, show you yo
Re:KIds with ADHD (Score:2)
Hah! You say that because you always finished in second place, loser!
Re:KIds with ADHD (Score:2)
That's correct - speed cleaning is a completely different sport than proper cleaning. Speed Cleaning just plops things into nearby shelves without organization (thus displacing the mess elsewhere), and Proper Cleaning has a neat organizational pattern that is
Re:KIds with ADHD (Score:1)
Re:games and cognition (Score:1)
Michael Posner has developed a "game-like" interactive training scheme that has been shown to increase some measurements of working memory and increase nonverbal IQ scores. Other researchers (Cogmed) have followed suit, even going so far as to manufactu
Brainwaves (Score:4, Interesting)
At least when we fire a gun in a video game we have some thought pattern. I'd like to see this study done on people grinding levels in WoW or another MMORPG. I know my brain isn't waving when I'm grinding. Kill... grab stuff... skin... grab stuff... heal... kill.. ...
wow (Score:1, Funny)
I can beleive that (Score:1)
Is this new? Think Tetris. (Score:3, Insightful)
And, yes, before anyone asks, I DID have the high-score.
Igi
Re:Is this new? Think Tetris. (Score:1)
Dammit (Score:3, Funny)
What? (Score:2, Funny)
So what neurons fire when you read /.? (Score:2)
In South Korea (Score:2)
Excuse me? (Score:4, Funny)
Unless you're already brain dead, doesn't every stimulus affect your brain in some way?
But my brain is affected only selectively... (Score:2)
It's more than just neurons firing (Score:3, Interesting)
What's going on in Burnout isn't just neurons firing, you've also got hormones pumping.
Hormones are the reason that simulators are only so effective. When I skid out on ice during a driving game, I don't panic and think "Oh SHIT! I'm gonna die." In real life, even if I don't get hit with a flood of chemicals at the moment I fucked up, afterwards, my body & brain will practically be awash with them.
Simulations & games don't have real consequences and for the most part, your brain and body knows the difference.
tinfoil (Score:1)
lol i was around slashdot for too long as well
Pac Man behaviour (Score:2, Funny)
Hmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
One question that is not yet answered is just how realistic a computer generated movement has to be to engage the mirror neuron system, and what properties of the movement our motor neurons really pay attention to. Much of the research on mirror neurons focuses on reaching and grasping movements (since these are important to monkeys where the data were first recorded). Those kinds of things tend to be pretty poorly implemented in computer games in my experience, while gross movements like walking and running seem pretty convincing.
It would be an interesting study to compare mirror neuron activity while watching live actors to watching computer generated avatars. You would probably get more activity in gamers who are familiar with the virtual movements.
Obvious (Score:2)
I remember playing Doom as a kid and being startled by imps or the growl of a pink beast coming up behind me. That doesn't mean that in the real world I'm going to be tricked by my brain into thinking there is an actual imp coming to get me if I hear a screech in the distance. It's the same as reading. When I read a Star Trek book, I'm not in the 24th Century, but a b
Reality vs. Videogames (Score:5, Insightful)
Accuracy isn't the issue. . . (Score:2)
Or more precisely, creating a population which will be inclined to accept a certain type of reality.
People hanker for the real world to fit what they think their brains are wired for. It's a subconscious drive. Once that reality is achieved, it hardly matters if there are discrepancies between reality and the simulator/mind-programming systems; Bush and his elitist friends are still getting rich in signing billions of dollars in weapons contracts.
-FL
Re:Reality vs. Videogames (Score:1)
A FPS player's two cents
Yet another spurious soft science article (Score:1)
We know very little about the workings of the human brain. We do have some high level models which don't tell us much more than folk psychology. And we have some detailed low level models. But we don't really have the tools to con
Autism (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh wow... what a surprise... (Score:2)
Blimey! I'd never have guessed that.
Mirror neurons are used to make split-second judgements. They're behind what most people call "intuition" or "gut feeling". And you make those decisions in less than a second - incredibly well, surprisingly.
Go read the book Blink! - it's full of information about how this system works.
Do virtual reactions affect our lives and thoughts (Score:2)