How Video Games Effect Your Brain

18j13xo9ibh5yjpgThis is your brain, and this is your brain on video games.

We’ve all heard it before.  Playing violent video games can change how you act in real life.  Time after time, those studies have been debunked.  So what do you make of all the images, articles and claims to the contrary?  Do video games really effect your brain?  Well, they can, but not how you would expect.  This article will talk about the ways that your brain interacts with video games, the pain/pleasure response mechanisms of your body while playing, and How Video Games Effect Your Brain during and after heavy bouts of gaming.

How Video Games Effect Your Brain

This is a new problem.  People play video games for so long that their brain becomes screwed up to the point that they don’t want to leave their homes, some even die in their chairs.  In South Korea, online gaming is so popular that kids specialize in them.  That means that they’ll work, compete, and make their living playing games.  While the long term effects of this kind of constant procedural brain activity can have on the psyche aren’t yet known, we do know that quantifiable conditions do exist.  So does that answer the question of How Video Games Effect Your Brain?

Tip
When at the office, or playing video games for long periods of time, look away to a distant object to reset your eyes. This will reduce eye strain.

Kind of.  How Video Games Effect Your Brain still isn’t widely understood.  But some syndromes, like the infamous Tetris effect, have been proven to exist.  In fact, many gamers report dreams that contain the subject matter of their games after long bouts of gaming.  This actually is included in the wide definition of Tetris Syndrome, but most gamers, or repetitive task people don’t realize it.

How Video Games Effect Your Brain

Take this familiar childhood memory.  One night, shortly after Christmas break, you stayed up almost all night playing a game, never really taking a break, or looking away from the screen.  Just as you finally decide to go to sleep, you feel your eyes playing tricks on you.  When you dream, you dream of a level in the game, or maybe a familiar monster, but now it’s incorporated into your psyche.  

So why does this occur?  Because that’s how are brains work.  They absorb new experiences to help us learn from them and to help us survive.  While playing video games certainly isn’t going to help you survive, it may help with other areas of your brain, like solving complex spatial problems.  An interesting side note to this “Tetris Syndrome” is that it also occurs after long bouts of doing other activities.  If you work in front of a computer, or spend too much time reading random websites (hello) you’ll notice that after a certain amount of time you’ll get a vision negative.  Meaning that the bright glare of a white screen will program your brain to recognize it as normal, reducing overall sensitivity to it,  That’s why when you look up after a long time, your vision will be strange.  It’s also the reason that certain optical illusions work, especially when using bright, eye straining colors like pink or green.

So have we answered How Video Games Effect Your Brain?  Not really, sorry.  But we hope you’ve expanded your brain by learning a few new things on the way.  We’ll keep you updated.  And remember, check back to this site for new products, promotions, discounts, and the occasional thought provoking article to feed your brain.