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New evidence suggests that habitual gamers have less grey matter in their hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a big role in different kinds of memory processing. The study, which combines neuroimaging and longitudinal research data, revealed that the hippocampus gets less stimulation during play time; while another part of the brain, called the caudate nucleus, is stimulated instead – 85% of the subjects were shown to heavily rely on the caudate nucleus to navigate through the game. The less stimulation hippocampus receives, the more cells it loses. Subsequently, depletion of the hippocampus places the person at risk of developing brain illnesses ranging from depression to schizophrenia, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s disease. Study authors urge video game designers to consider making changes to gameplay to encourage players to use spatial memory more – for example, removing the in-game GPS or maps overlaid on the display.
Authors:
G.L. West, K. Konishi, M. Diarra, J. Benady-Chorney, B. L. Drisdelle, L. Dahmani, D. J. Sodums, F. Lepore, P. Jolicoeur and V. D. Bohbot
Corresponding author:
Gregory West, Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, QC, Email: gregory.west@umontreal.ca
Original paper published in Molecular Psychiatry on August 8, 2017.
