Research: Violent video games may alter brain function

There might be something to that link between violent video games and aggression.

For years, researchers have bantered back and forth with findings that support and then debunk such a link. But researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis found signs via functional magnetic resonance imaging that the brain is affected by violent games. In the research, being presented this week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago, the researchers studied 22 healthy men, aged 18 to 29. All were given fMRI scans and were then split into two groups of 11: one that played a Mature-rated first-person shooter game for 10 hours over a week and then did not play for one week, the other that did not play games during the period. Researchers gave each group follow-up scans at the one-week and two-week mark. During the fMRI, the subjects were given tasks. At the one-week mark, the video game group 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, compared to their own previous results and those of the control groups.

On the second week scan, those brain changes were diminished in the video game group. "The activation returned toward baseline but did not completely normalize. We don't know how long the effect lasts for those who play longer," says study co-author Dr. Vincent Mathews.