'Video games damage brain'

21 May 2015 - 02:09 By ©The Daily Telegraph

Millions of boys could be at increased risk of Alzheimer's and other mental illnesses in later life from playing video games such as Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed, according to new research. Scientists say players navigate the screen using a key area of the brain called the caudate nucleus, which leads to loss of grey matter in the hippocampus.Previous studies have shown reduced volume in the hippocampus, which controls memory, learning and emotion, is associated with neurological and psychological disorders including dementia and depression.The Canadian team at University of Montreal said if action gamers have less grey matter, as people who rely on the caudate nucleus normally do, then they may be more prone to mental illness.In the study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, they tested 26 players and 33 non-players who wore skull caps recording their brainwaves and eye movements as they negotiated a virtual maze decorated with trees and mountains from which they had to retrieve objects.It found the players were twice as likely to use their caudate nucleus (80.76%) during navigation rather than the non-gamers (42.42%), who tended to rely on the brain's spatial memory system, the hippocampus.The caudate nucleus is the brain's reward system and has also been linked with drug and alcohol addiction.Previous research found the "reward hub" was larger in the brains of regular gamers than it was in the brains of those who rarely play video games. ..

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