by Leonardo Marengo

Video games are recreational products. According to recent surveys, more than a billion people play video games every day, whether on personal computers, gaming consoles or mobile phones. The quest to discover the neurophysiological underpinnings of human behavior has led researchers to assess what happens in our brain when we play video games.

It is known that video games are powerful tools to train our brains, an activity that resembles physical training. In Argentina, a research group has developed a series of video games to increase educational success in children. Recent studies indicate that video games improve the capability of the brain’s frontal lobe, which is particularly linked to the processing of attention and executive functions. These capabilities are very useful for planning, deciding, and judging morally.

The best time to do this is while they are in a light sleep in the early hours of the morning. The standard method of doing this, as taught by the commercial mind courses, is as you're going to sleep at night, program your subconscious to wake you up when your mind is in contact with the other person's mind. The result is that these multi-line slot machines produce more. Possibly accelerating the rate at which brain changes occur. Multi-line slots also seem to promote the development of. It balances the hope that you’re going to make it big with a little bit of frustration, and unlike the slot machine, a sense of skill needed to improve.” A young person’s brain lacks a fully developed self-control system to help them with stopping this kind of obsessive behavior.

It is well documented by numerous studies that frequent use (more than nine hours per week) of video games, compared to infrequent use, can benefit a wide range of mental operations.

“There is growing direct evidence that intensive use of video games results in significant generalized improvements in cognitive function,” writes neuroscientist Michael Merzenich of the University of California San Francisco in a review in Nature Reviews Neuroscience. “At the same time, it should be noted that the daily time spent playing video games in school-age children has been shown to be inversely correlated with academic achievement, arguably because time spent playing video games is time stolen from reading and curriculum-related academic study.”

Surprisingly, brain research is scarce on the actual effects associated with these benefits. But the widespread use of neuroimaging techniques to observe brain activity in real time has found that video games mobilize specific regions of this organ.

In every sense of the word, play is an enjoyable activity at any stage of life.

Play in childhood, for example, provides the first impulse in the development of a healthy life, both physically and psychologically. Playing video games, in turn, activates different regions of the brain related to pleasure, such as the left ventral striatal circuit which is an area involved in reward anticipation. In people who play more than nine hours of video games per day, a greater volume of gray matter was found in this region.

It has been further discovered that dopamine, a chemical that the brain produces, is released when we play video games. This release has been seen in abundance in the above-mentioned circuit—specifically in the nucleus accumbens, a brain structure known to play a role in feelings of pleasure, as well as with addiction.

In Argentina, the findings in relation to the use of video games is not particularly linked to the role of neurotransmitters or the observed differences in brain macrostructure. The findings relate to the potential of video games in educational contexts.

A group in educational neuroscience, coordinated by Mariano Sigman at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, created the Mate Marote initiative which consists of a series of cognitive training games for children of low socio-economic status who attend primary school. These games are intended to train different aspects of executive functions, such as capacity planning, as well as skills related to working memory and inhibitory control, to regulate thoughts and behaviors. The results of various assessments indicate that these games improve the functionality of executive functions which results in better school performance.

How Do Slot Machines Affect The Brain Teasers

Other findings from studies with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a device that measures levels of cerebral oxygenation, have detected a strong blood pressure in the aforementioned left ventral striatal circuit. Furthermore, it has been found that the thickness of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region associated with making decisions, is significantly larger in people who play video games.

The researchers, motivated by these impressive findings, also focused on assessing what happens in the hippocampus, the seat of learning and memory. Interestingly, the increased volume of gray matter in people who play video games varied depending on the genre of video game used. Those more interested in video games such as Mario Bros., for example, as opposed to logical games like Tetris, were more likely to have a larger volume of gray matter in these regions, which are associated with better visual and attentional skills. Changes in the occipital cortex, mainly linked to the sense of vision, were also observed in video game players, although to a lesser extent.

These observations of brain mechanics represent giant steps toward understanding how experience modulates brain development. Moreover, within the debate over the use of violent video games, these findings allow us to rethink scientific information about video games having a positive impact on our personal and social lives.

The use ofvideo games,especially in childhoodand adolescence,is arecurringtopic ofdiscussion amongmembers ofthe global scientific community. On the one hand, there are studies that supportthe hypothesis thatthe use ofvideo gamesin these earlyphasesof development isa risk factorin terms of increasingaggressivecognitions andbehaviors.On the other hand, other studiesdiametricallyoppose this possibility, arguing that their effectsare zeroand, interestingly, that they increase behaviors associated withpro-sociality and emotional wellbeing.

The research in Argentina adds to a growing body of evidence supporting the use of video games as tools for educational purposes, corroborating their practical effectiveness and supporting their cognitive benefits beyond mere entertainment. In the case of Argentina, the evaluation of the video game has been taken a step further and left the laboratory context and applied in a real educational context, which represents a pioneering effort in strengthening the ecological implications of these devices.

Leonardo Marengo is a student in the department of Psychology at the National University of Cordoba in Argentina. He currently works as a researcher in the Laboratory of Psychology. He also works at the medical research institute “Mercedes and Martín Ferreyra” (INIMEC-CONICET-UNC).

“Significant clusters of the cortical thickness correlation with hours of video gaming per week” via http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0091506

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How Do Slot Machines Affect The Brain Problems

(5) Kuhn S, Gallinat J. Amount of video gaming lifetime is positively Associated with
entorhinal, and hippocampal volume occipital. Mol Psychiatry 2014; 19: 842-847: http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v19/n7/full/mp2013100a.html

(6) Ferguson et al. Not Worth the Fuss After All? Cross-sectional and Prospective Data on Violent Video Game Influences on Aggression, Visuospatial Cognition and Mathematics Ability in a Sample of Youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. January 2013; Volume 42, Issue 1, pp 109-122: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-012-9803-6

(7) Anderson et al. Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, Vol 136(2), Mar 2010, 151-173: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/136/2/151/

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How Do Slot Machines Affect The Brain System

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobiological disorder characterized by symptoms of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity. People with the condition are often prescribed a stimulant drug called methylphenidate, which treats these symptoms. However, scientists do not fully understand how the drug works.
Now, researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have identified how certain areas of the human brain respond to methylphenidate. The work may help researchers understand the precise mechanism of the drug and ultimately develop more targeted medicines for the condition.
Previous research suggests that people with ADHD have different brain responses when anticipating and receiving rewards, compared to individuals without ADHD. Scientists at OIST have proposed that in those with ADHD, neurons in the brain release less dopamine - a 'feel-good' neurotransmitter involved in reward-motivated behavior - when a reward is expected, with dopamine neurons firing more when a reward is given.
'In practice, what this means is that children, or even young adults, with ADHD may have difficulty engaging in behavior that doesn't result in an immediate positive outcome. For example, children may struggle to focus on schoolwork, as it may not be rewarding at the time, even though it could ultimately lead to better grades. Instead, they get distracted by external stimuli that are novel and interesting, such as a classmate talking or traffic noises,' said Dr Emi Furukawa, first author of the study and a researcher in the OIST Human Developmental Neurobiology Unit, led by Professor Gail Tripp.
Scientists believe that methylphenidate helps people with ADHD maintain focus by influencing dopamine availability in the brain. Therefore, Dr Furukawa and her colleagues set out to examine how the drug affects a brain region called the ventral striatum, which is a vital component of the reward system and where dopamine is predominantly released.
'We wanted to take a look at how methylphenidate affects the ventral striatum's responses to reward cues and delivery,' said Furukawa.
The study, which was recently published in the journal Neuropharmacology, was jointly conducted with scientists at D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The collaboration allowed the researchers to combine expertise across multiple disciplines and provided access to IDOR's functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) facility.
Delving into the brain
The researchers used fMRI to measure brain activity in young adults with and without ADHD as they played a computer game that simulated a slot machine. The researchers scanned individuals in the ADHD group on two separate occasions - once when they took methylphenidate and another time when they took a placebo pill. Each time the reels of the slot machine spun, the computer also showed one of two cues, either the Japanese character み (mi) or そ (so). While familiarizing themselves with the game before being scanned, the participants quickly learned that when the slot machine showed み, they often won money, but when the slot machine showed そ, they didn't. The symbol み therefore acted as a reward-predicting cue, whereasそacted as a non-reward-predicting cue.
The researchers found that when individuals with ADHD took the placebo, neuronal activity in the ventral striatum was similar in response to both the reward predicting and non-reward predicting cue. However, when they took methylphenidate, activity in the ventral striatum increased only in response to the reward cue, showing that they were now able to more easily discriminate between the two cues.
The researchers also explored how neuronal activity in the striatum correlated with neuronal activity in the medial prefrontal cortex - a brain region involved in decision-making that receives information from the outside world and communicates with many parts of the brain, including the striatum.
When the individuals with ADHD took placebo instead of methylphenidate, neuronal activity in the striatum correlated strongly with activity in the prefrontal cortex at the exact moment the reward was delivered, and the participants received money from the slot machine game. Therefore, the researchers believe that in people with ADHD, the striatum and the prefrontal cortex communicate more actively, which may underline their increased sensitivity to rewarding external stimuli. In participants who took methylphenidate, this correlation was low, as it was in people without ADHD.
The results implicate a second neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, in the therapeutic effects of methylphenidate. Norepinephrine is released by a subset of neurons common in the prefrontal cortex. Researchers speculate that methylphenidate might boost levels of norepinephrine in the prefrontal cortex, which in turn regulates dopamine firing in the striatum when rewards are delivered.
'It's becoming clear to us that the mechanism by which methylphenidate modulates the reward response is very complex,' said Furukawa.
Tailoring new therapies for ADHD
Despite the complexity, the scientists believe that further research could elucidate methylphenidate's mechanism of action, which could benefit millions of people worldwide.
Pinning down how methylphenidate works may help scientists develop better therapies for ADHD, said Furukawa. 'Methylphenidate is effective but has some side effects, so some people are hesitant to take the medication or give it to their children,' she explained. 'If we can understand what part of the mechanism results in therapeutic effects, we could potentially develop drugs that are more targeted.'
Furukawa also hopes that understanding how methylphenidate impacts the brain could help with behavioral interventions. For example, by keeping in mind the difference in brain responses when children with ADHD anticipate and receive rewards, parents and teachers could instead help children with ADHD stay focused by praising them frequently and reducing the amount of distracting stimuli in the environment.
Reference
Furukawa et al. (2020) Methylphenidate modifies reward cue responses in adults with ADHD: An fMRI study. Neuropharmacology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2019.107833
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