Neurological Disorders May Be Linked To Gaming

New findings published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveal that too much time spent playing video games could be linked to a higher risk of neurological disorders.

Researchers found that those who played excessively were much more likely to use navigation strategies that relied on the brain's reward system (the caudate nucleus) and not the brain's spatial memory system (the hippocampus).

Past research has illustrated that the caudate nucleus-dependent navigation strategies have decreased grey matter and even lowered functional brain activity in the hippocampus, which can increase the risk of neurological disorders.

For the study, researchers at the University of Montreal's department of psychology set 26 gamers and 33 non-gamers on the challenge of navigating a digital maze where they had to solve a maze using spatial reasoning. This required landmarks to find the way out, averaging 18 hours of gaming per week. They were also more likely to use response learning, which meant they memorized the turns and steps to take in order to complete the maze. From the action campers, 80.76 percent used the response strategy, compared to just 42.42 percent of non-gamers.

"For more than a decade now, research has demonstrated that action video game players display more efficient visual attention abilities, and our current study has once again confirmed this notion," first author Dr. Gregory West, assistant professor at the Université de Montréal, Canada, said in a news release. "However, we also found that gamers rely on the caudate-nucleus to a greater degree than non-gamers. Past research has shown that people who rely on caudate nucleus-dependent strategies have lower grey matter and functional brain activity in the hippocampus. This means that people who spend a lot of time playing video games may have reduced hippocampal integrity, which is associated with an increased risk of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease."

The study helped to shed light on the impact of video gaming on the brain. However, more research is needed to determine the cause and effect relationship between the two. 

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).