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Study Shows Playing Violent Games May Damage Brain

a new study by the Department of Psychiatry of Taipei Veterans General Hospital is helping established the theory that playing of violent video games actually decreased blood flow to the brain.

The details are as below:

Department of Psychiatry of Taipei Veterans General Hospital Doctor Chou Yuan-hua showed that prolonged playing of violent video games may actually damage the brain.

The experiment took in 30 people, each one aged 25. The sample population then underwent physical examinations to monitor the blood circulation before and after playing a video game for 30 minutes.

Results showed that playing games actually decreased blood flow to the brain. Those who were exposed to violent games saw an even bigger drop in blood circulation. These have also been proven by previous studies.

Chou pointed out that the decrease in blood to the brain could potentially damage two parts of the internal organ: the frontal lobe of the brain and the anterior cingulate gyrus. The doctor also mentioned that based on previous clinical experiences, individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or depression have lower blood flow in their frontal lobes and anterior cingulate gyruses.

So does this mean that we have to give up our hobby of gaming? Well, far from it. While no conclusions have been made about this decrease in blood flow, the study should serve as a reminder for all you game-loving folks out there: playing for extended periods of time on a regular basis is not healthy.

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  • Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    Hmm... then my brain should be pretty messed up right now.

  • Kody said 
    Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    I wonder what's worse, then -- TV or video games? With video games, you at least have to perform motor functions.

  • noccy80 said 
    Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    It's a conspiracy! :o

  • Polymyst said 
    Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    WoW... that;s a suprese ^^ i hope some1 will be able to find some research documents. i would love to see those!

  • Polymyst said 
    Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    ye, and in addition, i think that my brain have no blood-circulation at all now xD

  • Sparkky said 
    Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    hmm cant find that post anywhere on the taiwanneews site.. anybody else have any luck. I want to find out how they studied this... sounds pretty odd to me.. did they compair types of video games.. Were all the people used of similar mental health or did they grab some random 30 people...

    call me skeptical but Ive also seen a correlation between the # of pirates sailing world wide.. and the global temperature... maybe I should get published in taiwan...

  • Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    agreed

  • Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    I'd have to say TV is worse...i've never caught myself drooling after playing video games...and I'm not as likely to fall asleep

  • mohfuu said 
    Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    I heard that there was made a study on people that had played Unreal Tournament.. i dont rember after how much time they had played.. but after X amount of time they had increased their sight by 30%

    and also there is a big difference in games. for example starcraft focuses more on automatic responses then the visual part of the brain and UT focuses more on the visual part.. and stamping "violent games" as brain damaging its just bullshit a "violent game" could be anything.. you could make chess violent on a pc by having the little pawns into humans and monsters and have them slay eachother in a brutal way.. whould that make chess a brain damaging game?

    also does that mean that everything connected to violence is brain damaging? or does that only go for games that are violent? are non-violent games not brain damaging? whould i get brain damage from seeing someone get beat up?

    in my opinion this is not very well documented. a

    lso ive got a feeling that asia is a bit gaming-hostile this stuff actually sounds like propaganda just because of the way they stamp "violent games" as brain-damaging.

  • Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    ya honestly... these scientists need to learn to be ready to let people see their research documents...

    Cause if I don't see those... it's total BS

  • Nimeah said 
    Thu, Jan 3 2008 10:43 PM ()

    Children should be restricted access to adult themed games period. Children are impressionable in ways adults are not. It's kinda like restricting access to alcohol, legally until the age of 21. There are medical, scientific and public reasons to do so, personal and public saftey being the main cause.

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