BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Teens who play violent
video games show increased activity in areas of the brain linked to emotional
arousal and decreased responses in regions that govern self-control, a recent
study found.
The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to record tiny metabolic
changes in brain activity in 44 adolescents who were asked to perform a series
of tasks after playing either a violent or nonviolent video game for 30
minutes.
The children, with no history of behavior problems, ranged
in age from 13 to 17. Half played a T-rated (for Teen) first-person shooter game
called Medal of Honour: Frontline, involving military combat, while the other
group played a nonviolent game called Need for Speed: Underground.
Those who played the violent video game showed more
activation in the amygdala, which is involved in emotional arousal, and less
activation in the prefrontal portions of the brain associated with control,
focus and concentration than the teens who played the nonviolent game.
"Our study suggests that playing a certain type of violent
video game may have different short-term effects on brain function than playing
a nonviolent, but exciting, game," said Vincent Mathews, a professor of
radiology at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis and the
study's author.
The findings were presented at a meeting of the
Radiological Society of North America. The 13 billion dollars U.S. video game
industry, with revenue rivaling Hollywood box office sales, is at the center of
a cultural battle over violent content.
Lawmakers' various attempts to ban the sale of violent
video games to children have been blocked by courts in Louisiana, Illinois,
California. Michigan and Minnesota.
(Agencies)
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