Shooters make you stupid

Andy

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"Shooters and other action games may harm the brain, according to new research from the University of Montréal, putting players at greater risk of mental health and neurological problems such as Alzheimer’s, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia.

"In the article “Impact of Videogames on Plasticity of the Hippocampus”, Greg West, an associate professor at UdeM’s psychology department, and his team claim that people who often play action and shooter games, such as Call of Duty, have a reduced amount of grey matter in their hippocampus, an area of the brain that is heavily linked to memory.

The study suggests that this depletion of grey matter might be severe enough to cause significant mental health issues and neurological illnesses. PTSD, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia and depression are all more likely with reduced hippocampal grey matter, and so action game players may be at greater risk of such conditions.

The understanding behind the research is that such games may stimulate a different part of the brain - the caudate nucleus, which is part of our reward system for habits and needs - at the cost of development in the hippocampus. While West acknowledges previous studies suggest there are benefits to playing videogames, he argues that these may not outweigh the potential negatives it causes to the hippocampus.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/action-games-mental-health-study


By the way, they found opposite results for more visuospatial games:

"All learners had an increase in hippocampal grey matter after 90 hours with a Mario game."





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My take:

- Other research shows benefits, so as usual, the findings are mixed.
- I didn't dig into the study to examine their methods, so there may be issues there.
- There are many activities that can lead to reduced hippocampal activity/growth. Playing certain types of games is just one of them. Probably, sitting on your ass watching TV is another.
- As usual, researchers are trying to investigate games as a health hazard of some type -- I imagine there is a lot of grant money available to do this. When you search look for problems across a wide number of variables, you will typically find something.
- Hippocampus is just one area of the brain. There are probably compensatory effects elsewhere.
- It's only one type of game, and other types of games have the opposite effect.

So, I wouldn't make too much out of this. Just thought it was kind of funny/interesting.

The jokey part of me wants to say, "I thought it was the other way around -- that stupid people gravitated to shooters" -- but I don't want to offend any intelligent shooters in the crowd. And besides, action games are included here, which I play plenty of.
 
hippocampus
hippocampal

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"All learners had an increase in hippocampal grey matter after 90 hours with a Mario game."

95% of gamers experienced rapid protein emissions after 90 hours with a DOA game.
 
LoL..hippocawhat!?

Hippocampus. It's a small area of the brain, associated with long-term memory.

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"It not only assists with the storage of long term memories, but is also responsible for the memory of the location of objects or people. We would not even be able to remember where our house is without the work of the hippocampus. Alzheimer's disease has been proven to have affected and damaged this area of the brain."

http://brainmadesimple.com/hippocampus.html

It's ok. Memory is overrated anyhow.
 
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Video games are bad for you articles have been around for as long as video games themselves.

Did they look into the brainpower of COD players before they started playing as a comparison? There may never have been much there to begin with.
 
Now when people ask me why I act so f***ing stupid I can tell them.:laugh:
 
"Shooters and other action games may harm the brain, according to new research from the University of Montréal, putting players at greater risk of mental health and neurological problems such as Alzheimer’s, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia.

"In the article “Impact of Videogames on Plasticity of the Hippocampus”, Greg West, an associate professor at UdeM’s psychology department, and his team claim that people who often play action and shooter games, such as Call of Duty, have a reduced amount of grey matter in their hippocampus, an area of the brain that is heavily linked to memory.

The study suggests that this depletion of grey matter might be severe enough to cause significant mental health issues and neurological illnesses. PTSD, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia and depression are all more likely with reduced hippocampal grey matter, and so action game players may be at greater risk of such conditions.

The understanding behind the research is that such games may stimulate a different part of the brain - the caudate nucleus, which is part of our reward system for habits and needs - at the cost of development in the hippocampus. While West acknowledges previous studies suggest there are benefits to playing videogames, he argues that these may not outweigh the potential negatives it causes to the hippocampus.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/action-games-mental-health-study


By the way, they found opposite results for more visuospatial games:

"All learners had an increase in hippocampal grey matter after 90 hours with a Mario game."





----

My take:

- Other research shows benefits, so as usual, the findings are mixed.
- I didn't dig into the study to examine their methods, so there may be issues there.
- There are many activities that can lead to reduced hippocampal activity/growth. Playing certain types of games is just one of them. Probably, sitting on your ass watching TV is another.
- As usual, researchers are trying to investigate games as a health hazard of some type -- I imagine there is a lot of grant money available to do this. When you search look for problems across a wide number of variables, you will typically find something.
- Hippocampus is just one area of the brain. There are probably compensatory effects elsewhere.
- It's only one type of game, and other types of games have the opposite effect.

So, I wouldn't make too much out of this. Just thought it was kind of funny/interesting.

The jokey part of me wants to say, "I thought it was the other way around -- that stupid people gravitated to shooters" -- but I don't want to offend any intelligent shooters in the crowd. And besides, action games are included here, which I play plenty of.
:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

What a load of bulls***!
 
:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

What a load of bulls***!

Hopefully, by the time you reach the nursing home, they will have replaced the Wii's with Xboxes, so you can continue to play your morally depraved, brain-rotting shooters.
 
Awful lot of "may" being used. I don't buy just stimulating certain parts will take from others. You'd have to neglect engaging other parts of the brain, and given how complex an instrument it is, making any kind of noise about this is woefully premature.

Not even worthy of a mention in media. I'm sure we will see this study quoted by someone with an agenda in the future.
 
They did a study on those games that are supposedly good for your brain and found that they do nothing.

http://gizmodo.com/lumosity-brain-games-are-bulls***-1649901132

I'm going to guess that on the flip side playing video games don't make you dumb(er).
 
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I've always said the majority of COD players are idiots. Now I've got scientific proof!!!
 
Awful lot of "may" being used. I don't buy just stimulating certain parts will take from others. You'd have to neglect engaging other parts of the brain, and given how complex an instrument it is, making any kind of noise about this is woefully premature.

Not even worthy of a mention in media. I'm sure we will see this study quoted by someone with an agenda in the future.

Yeah, I'm pretty skeptical myself. I'm not so concerned about the use of "may," since that's pretty standard in these studies (brain is too complex to make "A will lead to B" type statements).

The part that raises flags for me is that the article says they found "atrophy" in the hippocampus of people after 90 minutes of playing shooters. Granted, that's a journalist's writeup, so the actual researchers may have put it differently. Journalists constantly mischaracterize research findings. But putting that aside, it makes no sense that you find "atrophy" after 90 minutes. You might find reduced activity in that part of the brain, but you wouldn't find atrophy -- that is, you wouldn't see cells dying off in 90 minutes. They would just get quieter. Calling that "atrophy" seems misleading/hyperbolic.

They did a study on those games that are supposedly good for your brain and found that they do nothing.

http://gizmodo.com/lumosity-brain-games-are-bulls***-1649901132

Interesting! Bookmarked for later. I hear those Luminosity ads all the time on NPR.

I do think there is potential for games to be used in cognitive rehabilitation, and probably for some cognitive training as well. But the idea that you can become some kind of cognitive Superman by training your brain like you'd train your body -- that's a pretty exaggerated claim ... although it's probably a good marketing angle.
 
Nah, I play all the Mario games and I am still dumb as fuuuuuu.
 
Be more open minded gaming friends! Like many studies, there are bits of truths and correlative evidence however in science correlation doesn't equal causation. This study is throwing out theories based on correlative evidence which would have to be tested more to come to better conclusions.

That said, I've studied brain development because I have an 8 year old with a learning disability thanks to medicine gone wrong. When he was tested at 6, he had damage similar to people when they suffer closed head injuries in car accidents. He's 8 now and while he hasn't fully closed the gap, he's improved a lot with brain training.

Your brain is like a lot of other things. You have to use it to make it stronger. You don't use it, it deteriorates. There are video games that actually have helped my son because he has to problem solve, connect the dots, build stuff, etc. This is like working out your muscles in the gym.

I'm a shooter fan and I can say honestly there is little brain stimulus in playing twitch shooters. They are fun but once you get them down, you're playing on instincts and reflexes.

The key is not allowing brainless shooters to dominate your life and to have balance. You can watch good tv shows or Netflix and chill and still be healthy if you work out. If all you do is live a sedentary lifestyle, you'll get physically unhealthy. If you never challenge your brain, your brain deteriorates. On the flip side, challenging your brain keeps you sharper and helps you resist Alzheimer's when you're older. If you're a shooter fan yet are mentally challenged at work, in school, or by other games, you'll be fine.
 
Everyone knows the only games that are good for you, are drinking games, and monopoly.

Although, I'm pretty sure there are more Monopoly related orphans out there than we know.

If I had a kid who cheated at Monopoly, they'd be dead to me.

Oh the shame they'd bring to Haus of Bellybama.
 
Be more open minded gaming friends! Like many studies, there are bits of truths and correlative evidence however in science correlation doesn't equal causation. This study is throwing out theories based on correlative evidence which would have to be tested more to come to better conclusions.

That said, I've studied brain development because I have an 8 year old with a learning disability thanks to medicine gone wrong. When he was tested at 6, he had damage similar to people when they suffer closed head injuries in car accidents. He's 8 now and while he hasn't fully closed the gap, he's improved a lot with brain training.

Your brain is like a lot of other things. You have to use it to make it stronger. You don't use it, it deteriorates. There are video games that actually have helped my son because he has to problem solve, connect the dots, build stuff, etc. This is like working out your muscles in the gym.

I'm a shooter fan and I can say honestly there is little brain stimulus in playing twitch shooters. They are fun but once you get them down, you're playing on instincts and reflexes.

The key is not allowing brainless shooters to dominate your life and to have balance. You can watch good tv shows or Netflix and chill and still be healthy if you work out. If all you do is live a sedentary lifestyle, you'll get physically unhealthy. If you never challenge your brain, your brain deteriorates. On the flip side, challenging your brain keeps you sharper and helps you resist Alzheimer's when you're older. If you're a shooter fan yet are mentally challenged at work, in school, or by other games, you'll be fine.

That is how I see it.

I think we don't like articles like this because they are so narrow in their approach. People also like to cite articles like this when making a point, and the truth is there is much more to all of it with so many contributing factors and caveats.
 
It's confusing because they use verbage of "action games" and "3d" games. As if the shooters were side scrollers or something... Hmmm
 
There is a lot to unpack from that article. I'm not convinced they understand it all themselves