Study: Brains of Excessive Gamers Similar to Addicts

[HuckleB]

http://www.livescience.com/17033-gamer-brain-reward-system.html

"The brains of teen video gamers look similar to those of addicts, with larger so-called reward centers, a new study suggests.

The reward center, focused around a brain region called the ventral striatum, releases "feel good" chemicals when we do something that helps us survive and reproduce — like eating or mating. Sometimes, as is the case with addiction, these brain regions become overactive in response to non-useful stimuli, like cocaine, alcohol, excessive sex or excessive gambling.

"Our participants did not reach formal criterions of addiction," study researcher Simone Kühn, of Ghent University in Belgium, said in an email to LiveScience. "But indeed especially the finding that they show more activity in a reward region ... might be a mechanism by which behavioral addiction develops."

The researchers can't tell if the gaming caused the brain changes, or if overactive reward centers led to excessive gaming.


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This is a very small, preliminary study, with much speculation and no definitive causation, as the researchers note. Still, it is interesting. I look forward to follow-up studies on this topic.

:hi:

[rocktivity]

1. Why WOULDN'T video gaming be as potentially addictive as anything else?

To figure that out, they had to do a fancy study?

P.S. Irony alert: The gambling industry prefers the term "gaming" -- sounds LESS potentially addictive and much more respectable.

:shrug:
rocktivity

[supernova]

2. Same here

if you are on the

stimulus --> reward cycle, which interacts with the same areas of the brain, the specific activity itself (shopping, gaming, cocaine) might not matter.

Interesting to see what the research reveals.

[flamingdem]

8. How about DU reading? nt

[bemildred]

3. I know mine sure is, but that's just anecdotal.

:popcorn:

[HuckleB]

4. Oh, I know plenty of those anecdotes myself!

:hi:

[Odin2005]

5. ANYTHING pleasurable is potentially addicting.

That won't stop the Tipper Gores of the world from jumping on this and start arguing that video games should be banned.

[HuckleB]

6. Who's arguing that?

And what does that have to do with this study?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

7. I don't have time to read your post

Too busy with Skyrim...

[Ratty]

9. Heh

Me too.

[vidalarosa]

10. Study: Brains of Excessive Gamers Similar to Addicts

I am quite sure excessive gaming can be addicting. I've experienced it myself when one sem break was wasted on doing just that. I barely got up & ate hurriedly just so I can resume playing. What a waste.