Infatuation or Terminal Love By Ron J. Swatzyna, Ph.D., L.C.S.W.
This country has been engaged in a national debate about whether violent video games breed violence in those that play them. I don't know the answer to this question and I am not even certain that it is the right question to ask. Instead, I would like to ask another question: do "thrilling" video games alter the brains of those who play them over extended periods? Recent studies on brain functioning suggest that the answer to this question is, yes, thrilling video games do alter the brains of those who play them, and not for the better.
Throughout this article, I will refer to "thrilling" video games rather than "violent" video games. I do this for two reasons. First, violence has a moral connotation. Some believe violence is bad in its own right; others might embrace it as a necessary evil in an imperfect world. I will sidestep this part of the debate because what makes games dangerous isn't the violence, per se, it is the intensity of response the violence engenders. Second, I use the term "thrilling" because games that put you in the role of a snow boarder careening down a slope might be just as dangerous as games that put a gun in your hand and a mugger in your sights. Many parents would much rather have their children play video games in which they race around a track rather than shoot at monsters. From the point of view of brain functioning, there may not be much difference between the two.
To understand how thrilling video games alter the brain, it's necessary to understand how the brain works. The brain is a learning machine which changes in response to what it learns, continually creating new neuronal pathways. This process is called neuronal plasticity. The more an activity is repeated, the stronger the neuronal pathways associated with it become. This process is commonplace. We all experienced it when we learned to swim or to ride a bicycle. At first it was very hard, but the more we did it, the easier it became. Repetitive activity strengthened and expanded the neuronal pathways so that in time, the skill was forever embedded in our brain's programming. This ability of the brain gives us the ability to learn new things at any age and also gives neurofeedback training the capability to normalize otherwise dysfunctional brain activity. Through repetition, neurofeedback helps the brain train itself to function more smoothly and to avoid disruptive brainwave patterns.
Thrilling video games create disruptive patterns. Through much repetition, those changes become deeply embedded in the brain. The purpose of this article is to present empirical fi ndings specific to the neurological impact of heavy video gaming. Before discussing just how video games create changes in the brain, one point must be made; all video games are not created equal.
Continuum of Video Games and Technology
The video game industry is very prolific. Over the last 10 years, we have seen an almost exponential growth in the types of games and in gaming technology. We have come a long way from Pac Man. There is a continuum of video games. At one end are those that stimulate the learning pathways and on the other those that stimulate the limbic system. The limbic system is responsible for preparing the body to fi ght or fl ee in case of threat (survival). Video games such as Sim City teach players skills such as organization, planning and strategizing. In contrast, video games, such as Doom and Quake, highly stimulate the limbic system.
Instruments that play video games have kept pace with the games themselves. With technologically advanced graphics, displays and controllers, thrilling video games have become very realistic. Superior graphics make the games very lifelike and therefore proportionally increase the stimulation of the player. The greater the stimulation, the greater the emotional arousal, even though the player knows cognitively that it is just a game.
Neurochemical change
There are two important neurochemicals produced in high quantities by video gaming: norepinephrine and dopamine. The first is associated with the fi ght or flight response, the second directly stimulates the pleasure centers.
What makes video games so exciting is that on some level they feel real, and to the brain, in a sense, they are. In a situation of real danger, the brain tells the body to get ready for action. It floods the body with adrenaline, the respiration rate increases, blood vessels constrict, and the heart rate and blood pressure increases as adrenaline is released into the brain.
Intuitively, we might imagine that the survival state would be one that powers up the brain, but in fact, the opposite occurs, particularly with regard to the frontal lobes, wher higher-level thinking occurs. you are running for your life, y want to stop for a moment to think about whether you ought to or left. That moment of hesitation might cost you your life. Instead, the brain tells the body to just MOVE, don't think about how or where, just do it. D ing an adrenaline rush, blood flow to the frontal lobes is suppressed.
In addition to high concentrations of fight or flight chemicals in the brains of video gamers, studies have also found significant quantities of dopamine. Interestingly, the presence of dopamine is reliable enough that researchers looking to track dopamine in the brain, have used video games to stimulate its production. It is produced in response to the goal-seeking activities that are a component of most video games. Our bodies produce dopamine when we are in pursuit of a goal. That is our body's way of helping us to stay on track with a pursuit, because dopamine directly stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain. Once the goal is attained, dopamine production drops off. But, as we know, behind every goal in a video game is yet another goal waiting to be achieved, so the flow of dopamine is continuous.
Neuroelectrical Changes
Both excessive quantities of dopamine and the presence of the fi ght-orflight chemicals cause reduced blood flow in the prefrontal cortex, reducing neuronal activity in that part of the brain. This reduction in blood fl ow is manifested by an increase in slow wave activity and a decrease in fast wave activity in the prefrontal cortex. Studies using functional MRI and EEG analysis find that people playing thrilling video games consistently display this brain wave pattern.
The increase in slow wave activity is apparent in the dissociated state in which most people play video games. They are submerged in the imaginary world; for gamers, it is as if they are truly in the game and real life ceases to exist. Many parents report that they have great diffi culty getting their sons' attention when they are gaming. This is why. Decreased fast-wave activity while playing video games is not unexpected because the structure of most thrilling games rewards this so effectively. Fast wave activity in the frontal lobes al-lows a person to inhibit a response long enough to think about the consequence of the action before acting. It suppresses impulsivity. In video gaming, as with real life fight or flight, success comes with quick responses, not measured, well-thought out plans of action.
There is another condition that manifests with a neuroelectrical signature consisting of overabundance of slow waves and a paucity of fast waves in the prefrontal cortex. It is ADD/ADHD.
Video Gaming: Neurofeedback Training with Negative Results
Neurofeedback training utilizes the brain's ability to alter its structure and programming (neuronal plasticity). Patients are connected to electrodes that measure neuroelectrical activity in the brain. This activity is displayed to the patient on a video screen and as the patient alters their brain activity in a functional direction, the video image changes to let them know that they have achieved success.
Over time, practicing healthier brain activity works like practicing anything. Patients get better at it, until, eventually, it becomes the most natural thing in the world.
When neurofeedback training is used to correct ADHD, the computer thresholds are set to reward the absence of slow-wave and a corresponding increase fast-wave activity in the frontal cortex. This is the profile of healthy brain activity.
Video gaming produces brain waves that are the opposite of what is desirable for healthy functioning. Looking at it from that perspective, video gaming is actually "neurofeedback therapy" that produces negative results. While neurotherapy patients might spend 60 minutes a week training their brains to work better, heavy video gamers spend hours and hours every day training their brains to function like someone who suffers with ADHD.
For adolescents without ADHD or without a vulnerability to ADHD, moderate thrilling video gaming may present no serious risk. However, for those with ADHD or with a predisposition to it, extensive thrilling video gaming may be equivalent to an incipient alcoholic being encouraged to play nightly drinking games.
In my practice, I have found that many heavy users of thrilling video games are often socially challenged and lack the maturity for their age, have anxiety/anger issues, are doing poorly in school, are difficult to engage in treatment and some respond poorly to medication. There can be a "chicken and egg" argument made. Perhaps boys with these troubles are drawn to heavy gaming. But it is also possible that the heavy gaming is causing the problems or making them worse.
Parents be warned.