A massive 116 study meta-review (from 2017!) reveals video games are capable of changing our brain shape and function.
Marc Palaus and team reviewed 22 gaming studies exploring structural changes in the brain and 100 studies that focused on brain functionality and behavior.
The results indicate that playing video games not only changes how the brain performs, it alters the brain’s very structure! POWERFUL.
For example, the review shows that video game players display improvements in sustained and selective attention. At the same time, the regions of the brain that play a role in attention became more efficient in gamers compared with non-gamers, and they required less activation to stay focused on demanding tasks.
The individuals who play video games long-term have an enlarged and better functioning hippocampus. This part of the brain has a major role in intrinsic motivation, emotion, learning, and memory. It drives our limbic functions, the responses to stimuli that feel automatic.
It is important to remember that not all video games solicit this response and excessive play can have negative effects too, as with any powerful medicine. But done frequently and with the right games, the results are literally mind altering.
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