More on Gaming and Violence

Please take the time to educate yourself as a parent by reading this article.

I will copy and paste the article here from the University of Indiana School of Medicine.

December 2, 2002
Aggressive Youths, Violent Video Games Trigger Unusual Brain Activity

INDIANAPOLIS - Exposure to violent media may affect the brains of youths with aggressive tendencies differently than the brains of non-aggressive youths, according to research at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

The results of the study conducted by the Departments of Radiology and Psychiatry were released Monday, Dec. 2, at the 88th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.

The brain activity of aggressive adolescents diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) is different from that of other adolescents when both groups viewed violent video games, as demonstrated by the study. Brain function was measured by functional MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans.

"Initial evidence from the study demonstrates that adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders have different frontal lobe activation patterns than teens without the disorder," said principal investigator Vincent P. Mathews, M.D., professor of radiology and chief of neuroradiology at the IU School of Medicine. "In other words, fMRI scans show less brain activity in the frontal lobe while the youths with DBD watch violent video games. The frontal lobe is the area of the brain responsible for decision-making and behavior control, as well as attention and a variety of other cognitive functions."

"This is the first evidence that adolescents with aggressive, disruptive behavior disorders have brain activation patterns that are different from non-aggressive adolescents while watching video games," said William G. Kronenberger, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and a co-investigator on the study.

Disruptive behavior disorders are separated into two behavioral disorders, one characterized by persistent rule breaking and resistance to the limits of authority. The other consists of significant violations of the basic rights of others and includes such actions as destruction of property, theft, truancy, human or animal cruelty and fire-setting. This study does not differentiate between the two.

The research, conducted over a 24-month period, had teens with DBD and teens without DBD watch a car racing video game that had excitement without violent content and a James Bond video game that had excitement and violent content. While watching the video games, the youths were scanned with fMRI to determine changes in brain activity.

The researchers also found that among subgroups of the non-aggressive adolescents there were differences in brain function dependent upon the amount of violent media exposure that they reported experiencing on television and in video games during the past year.

"There appears to be a difference in the way the brain responds depending on the amount of past violent media exposure through video games, movies and television," Dr. Mathews explained. "These early findings confirm there is a difference in the brain activation patterns of youths with DBD and those without when exposed to a specific stimulus. There also may be a relationship between violent media exposure and brain activity in normal subjects."

"These results indicate what part of the brain should be studied in future, more controlled research studies," said Dr. Kronenberger.

Other IU researchers involved with the study are Mark Lowe, Ph.D., Tie-Qiang Li, Ph.D., Yang Wang, M.D., and David Dunn, M.D.

Funding for this study was provided by the Center for Successful Parenting.

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Media Contact: Mary Hardin
IU School of Medicine
317-274-7722
mhardin@iupui.edu