Maybe playing MMO games is an important part in your life, but do you really
know their effects on your body?
A study report on Transformation
psychiatry said that the brain structures of teenagers who play MMOs frequently
are different from those of who do not. This study was conducted by an
international team which includes scientists from Belgium,Germany,UK and so on.
They divided 154 teenagers into two groups. One group consists of frequent
players that play games more then 9 hours per week. Adversely teenagers of
another group spend less time in MMOs.
"On magnetic resonance imaging scans of 154 14-year-olds,
we computed voxel-based morphometry to explore differences between frequent and
infrequent video game players. Moreover, we assessed the Monetary Incentive
Delay (MID) task during functional magnetic resonance imaging and the Cambridge
Gambling Task (CGT). We found higher left striatal grey matter volume when
comparing frequent against infrequent video game players that was negatively
correlated with deliberation time in CGT. Within the same region, we found an
activity difference in MID task: frequent compared with infrequent video game
players showed enhanced activity during feedback of loss compared with no loss.
This activity was likewise negatively correlated with deliberation time. The
association of video game playing with higher left ventral striatum volume could
reflect altered reward processing and represent adaptive neural plasticity."(
The neural
basis of video gaming)
However, though we know the brain can change in adulthood the burning
question whether the video gaming is the cause or the effect still needs to be
answered.
Coincidentally another research by Michigan State
University scholars showed us that both boys and girls who play video games tend
to be more creative, regardless of whether the games are violent or nonviolent.
"The MSU findings should motivate game designers to identify the aspects
of video game activity that are responsible for the creative effects,"
Jackson said. "Once they do that, video games can be designed
to optimize the development of creativity while retaining their entertainment
values such that a new generation of video games will blur the distinction
between education and entertainment."
In short, games do help players
build up self-confidence and cultivate creation vision. But at the same time we
should never forget that too much water drowned the miller.
