14 DAY TRIAL // German investigators from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIHD) and Charité University Medicine St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus recently conducted a study on the brains of computer gamers, which revealed that playing games can lead to significant increases in areas of the brain responsible for fine motor skills and planning.
Measurements performed by the team revealed that areas in the brains of gamers responsible for strategic planning, memory formation and spatial orientation were larger than in subjects who did not play often. Regions controlling fine motor skills were found to be larger as well, PsychCentral reports.
Data collected in this investigation could be used to stage new forms of therapeutic interventions aimed at a variety of psychiatric disorders. The study lasted for two months, and was conducted on adults whom researchers asked to play “Super Mario 64” for 30 minutes each day.
Another group made up of controls was not told to play the game. After two months, the team used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the volume of participants' brains. Adults in the test group showed marked increases in grey matter in several areas of the brain.
The grey matter is where the bodies of nerve cells are located in the brain. Changes in grey matter concentration represent a process related to neural plasticity, a model of understanding the brain that is currently becoming increasingly popular among neuroscientists.
The areas most affected by plasticity in this study were the right hippocampus, the right prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum. An interesting positive correlation was discovered between test subjects' desire to play the game and the amount of grey matter increase researchers noted.
“While previous studies have shown differences in brain structure of video gamers, the present study can demonstrate the direct causal link between video gaming and a volumetric brain increase,” says scientist Simone Kühn.
“This proves that specific brain regions can be trained by means of video games,” adds the expert, who is a senior scientist at the MPIHD Center for Lifespan Psychology, and the leader of the new study.
The conclusions of this new study could be used to develop therapies for conditions where these areas of the brain are reduced in volume, including Alzheimer’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).