Do video games damage our brain?

If you play video games frequently, your brain changes: the more of the so-called gray mass that is present in the hippocampus of the brain, the healthier the organ of thought. The fewer are present, the greater the risk of developing brain disease.

The League of Legends computer game is a phenomenon:

The computer game “League of Legends” is a phenomenon: about 100 million people around the world play it, regularly “LoL”, as they say among connoisseurs. The game, in which normally two teams with five members each compete against each other. The rules are complex and winning against other players requires strategic thinking.

Research confirms many positive effects:

The study published in mid-November 2017 from the University of York in England in the journal Plos One. It cannot be answered whether the gamers got smarter through the hours in front of the screen or if it simply helped the gamers more smart in the league, says psychologist Alexander Wade:

We bet on the second.

Computer games are a common hobby for today’s youth. Research into the effects of computer gambling is also flourishing, producing hundreds of studies each year. After all, they want to know how the brain and behavior are influenced by this mass phenomenon.

Contrary to popular belief, the results generally lead to computer games improving the brain functions involved. It’s pretty clear that many games don’t improve the entire IQ, but they do improve individual brain functions.

Only later did scientists prove the positive effects of the game. Those who play regularly for an hour are better at understanding situations quickly, generating new insights, and sorting what they’ve learned into categories.

The reason for this is increased activity in the hippocampus, an area that is important for learning and can be trained through computer games. But through excessive gaming, an average of fourteen hours a week, the so-called gray matter of the brain suffers in gamers, reduced in places. This is in the orbital frontal cortex, which belongs to the frontal lobe responsible for higher tasks. The more excessive his gambling, the greater the loss.

Just what does that mean? The volume of the gray matter in which the nerve cells of the cortex sit varies greatly throughout life and depends on a number of factors: it is difficult to say whether a change is good or bad.

One thing is certain: if you spend a lot of time on the screen, you don’t have enough time for other things. Neuroscientist Daphne Bavelier from the University of Geneva compares computer games to red wine:

It’s a shame in large quantities. You may even have enjoyed moderate health benefits.