Draft of Exploratory Essay

How do Video Games Affect the Brain?

In 2016, studies show that around "sixty-five percent of American households are home to someone who plays video games regularly" (Entertainment Software Association). That is more than half of the population of America, which goes to show that video games are not an uncommon form of entertainment. In fact, it is a remarkably popular that "67 percent of American households own a device used to play video games" (Entertainment Software Association). Although many assume that the reason why it is very well-liked within society now more than ever is because the population of those who play video games is male dominated, that statement is false. There are more male players than female, but statistics show that the gap between them is very small. About "56 percent of players are male", and "44 percent are female" (Polygon). Video games have become more popular, and continues to be more accessible for the whole world, but there are many who worry about it, if it could possibly damage the mind of those who play it regularly.

Throughout many years, the media and society have debated on whether if video games are safe for anyone who play them frequently. Parents worry if these games can harm the brains of their own children, and could affect their thinking processes. The media also debates whether these games are suitable for any age, especially during times of school shootings. There are many factors to take in when discussing the topic of video games, and although some may think it could change the behavior of any person in a negative way, others believe that it could help advance our brain functions, help us understand how the brain works as well. Although this topic has been debated about for anything, there is still a main question that is needed to be answered to understand the questions, which is: How do video games affect the brain?

The Brain Function

Online gaming has helped benefit, and even advanced the brain's cognition. An article from Brain Imaging and Behavior created an experiment to help contribute to this topic, testing on 19 college students who were considered "healthy" in gaming standards, and 19 students with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), an unconfirmed disorder which is based on people who play online games such as World of Warcraft daily, as if it was a job. The students were put into an internet videogame stimulus to research specific brain regions in both groups. According to their study, the stimuli " activated brain regions included the right superior frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, left insular lobe and right precuneus" for the healthy group, while the stimuli activated " brain regions that were mainly distributed over the right medial frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, left transverse temporal gyrus, right inferior parietal gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, right precuneus and right posterior cerebellar lobe" (Jun Liu et al. 62). These brain regions that were studied are mainly parts of the brain that receive and process the information given, which is more activated in the brains of the IGD group than the controlled. IGD gains the information and processes it in a faster timing, which helps daily when either working, focusing on school, practicing, etc. Even though the IGD group had more of an advantage through the statistics, the controlled group did increase their activation as well, helping their brain region.

Many assume to believe that brain games are the only way that any gamer could get any benefit out of playing, but that is not the case. An article from Plos One demonstrated an experiment that was held to prove that point, only the difference between the experiment from Brain Imaging and Behavior and Plos One is that this test was conducted on the elderly. They focused their task on proving whether these games can help the cognitive functions of the brain, and can benefit the life of those who play it. After the tests were done, the “results suggested that playing the Brain Age did not improve the global cognitive statuses and the attention” (Rui Nouchi et al. 6). Although both games did show any different results when it comes comparison, they did indicate that “both training games and transfer tasks could share the same brain region, prefrontal cortex, and that the transfer effect of the brain training game on the executive functions and processing speed could be mediated by the prefrontal regions” (Rui Nouchi et al. 6). Even though they seem different in the eyes of a non-gaming person, these two games can both help the executive functions of our brains and help examine information on what our brains can do.

Not only do these games help the brain function more advanced than before, but it could also help practice social issues. An article in the Psychology of Popular Media Culture conducted experiments with children by giving them video games that were competitive. The children were interviewed on what the times they have played games, how long they play games, what games they play, and if they play competitively. After these results, they understood that these children were playing competitive games every day, playing games such as Clash of Clans, Minecraft, Fifa, even Call of Duty. Although these games seem very time consuming, these children “showed improvements over one year in conduct problems and peer relationships” (Adam Lobel et al. 7). Even the violent video games that many parents have worried about helped these children to communicate with one another, demonstrating teamwork even as young kids. As the article states, “Team-based competitive play requires cooperation despite players pursuing competitive, arguably antisocial goals. This allows for prosocial behaviors amid competition, for example, in games that specifically enable players to heal or protect their teammates” (Adam Lobel et al. 8). These types of video games help people of all ages gather up and beat the anti-social problems one might have. Although it is beneficial, it could also cause anxieties and stress when played more than frequently.

The Addiction

Constantly playing video game can cause problems such as stress, depression, and even anxiety. Though it is a form of entertainment that can be used for free time, most go beyond that time limit, and face the consequence noted in the article from Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds. They created a public survey for Australian students to take information on their gaming addiction and rating their addiction using the Gaming Addiction Scale (GAS), which is a scale that represents the levels of social anxiety, behavioral inhibition, depression and gaming addiction. After two months of gathering the information, they realized that the “emerging adults had higher mean scores on all scales compared to the three other age categories,” while the “older adults (61 years and above) had the lowest mean scores on all scales compared to the other three age categories” (Deborah Vanzoelen et al. 240). Those who are continuing to play as they become adults become more addicted to video games and start to create a bubble around them, causing them to have social anxieties and stress because of those games. This is mainly due to the only competitive games that have become more popular around the world, and is causing many adults and teens to only focus on their games than their important task, which could lead to them failing classes or losing their jobs.

Discussion

Although there are many benefits to playing video games, it could also damage the mind if played too much than needed. It has helped many to improve their cognitive and executive functions, which led to them processing and executing the information given to them faster than before, but if this is not balanced time wise, it could lead to stress and depression, hurting the brain. There is no right answer when talking about video games, and maybe there never will be one. Many would consider games as this trap to take their children away from the education they need, while others would suggest that it is beneficial for children. As of now there is no real reason to take away or even encourage the use of video games, but only the person themselves can decide on their own whether to use it.

Web Cited

Liu, Jun, et al. “Functional Characteristics of the Brain in College Students with Internet Gaming

Disorder.” Brain Imaging and Behavior, vol. 10, no. 40, 2016, 60-68.

Lobel, Adam, et al. “Gaining a Competitive Edge: Longitudinal Associations Between

Children’s Competitive Video Game Playing, Conduct Problems, Peer Relations, and Prosocial Behavior.” Psychology of Popular Media Culture, vol. 1, no. 1, 2017, 1-13.

Nouchi, Rui, et al. “Brain Training Game Improves Executive Functions and Processing Speed

in the Elderly: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Plos One, vol. 7, no. 1, 2012, 1-9.

Vanzoelen, Deborah, et al. “The Role of Social Anxiety, the Behavioural Inhibition System and

Depression in Online Gaming Addiction in Adults.” Journal of Gaming & Virtual

Worlds, vol. 8, no. 3, 2016, 231-245.