A recent study, published in the journal Nature, reveals new information on how video games can affect the brain. Lead by Gregory West, the study used different game genres to examine the impact of gaming on a subject’s hippocampus.
The hippocampus has been shown to play a large role in spatial navigation and memory. This study revealed that gamers playing action-based shooters experienced a reduction in size of the hippocampus, due to the loss of grey matter. Gamers who played 3-d platformers, however, actually experienced an increase in grey matter and brain growth.
Interpreting the Results
Why did shooters shrink the brain and platformers expand it? There are no definite answers yet, but Gregory West weighed in on the possibilities.
“In the majority of action video games, there’s an onscreen GPS overlaid on the screen,” said West. “There’s also wayfinding markers overlaid over the environment, and we know from past studies that when people are encouraged to navigate using these cues, really, they’re not using their hippocampal memory system to navigate.”
In other words, instead of making active decisions regarding their surroundings, players rely on a dumbed-down system of navigation. It makes sense that puzzle games and platformers, genres purposefully devoid of more intricate UI elements, would place greater focus on navigation and sequencing.
Is My Brain Shrinking!?
Maybe, but the experts don’t seem too concerned.
“I would never interpret this finding as a big warning against action video games,” said Simone Kuhn, a professor of neural plasticity at the University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany.
For years, debate has raged over the impact of video games on the health of children. I tend to take the naysayers with a grain of salt. I love gaming and understand firsthand the positive impact it can have on learning and development. However, when I see a study with quantifiable results, I’m not going to ignore it.
As someone who has played more of the Diablo series than I’d care to admit, I’m intimately acquainted with graphical overlays and mini-maps. I know that feeling, best described as your brain going on auto-pilot, as you grind your way through a procedurally generated dungeon. Maybe that’s not the healthiest way to use our brains, at least not long term.
Luckily, as with most things in life, the answer seems to be balance. Not just, “Shut off the video games and go outside,” but perhaps, “Take a break and play a different game for a while.” If games can expand the hippocampus just as they can restrict it, it seems obvious that playing a variety of games with different goals and methods of engagement would benefit us all. If you’ve been hitting Destiny 2 extra hard, maybe mix in some sandbox games. If Path of Exile is your current jam, try mellowing out in the hills of Hyrule.
Who knows? You might actually grow your brain a little bit in the process.