How Video Games Shape Your Child’s Brain

Video games have become a cornerstone of entertainment for millions worldwide, and their influence on brain health is a topic that continues to intrigue scientists. Recent research, specifically from the study Impact of Video Games on Plasticity of the Hippocampus, highlights how different gaming strategies can affect brain structures such as the hippocampus, a vital memory and spatial navigation region. This study provides insights into how our gaming habits may either boost or compromise hippocampal health, depending on how we approach in-game challenges.

Understanding Navigation Strategies in Video Games

In video games, players often use one of two main navigation strategies:

1. Spatial Strategy

This method involves navigating by focusing on landmarks or spatial cues in the game environment.

Navigating by landmarks or spatial cues means finding your way by focusing on noticeable objects or structures in the environment, rather than following a map or specific directions.

In games, this kind of navigation helps activate the hippocampus, the brain’s center for memory and spatial awareness, by making you rely on spatial memory instead of simply memorizing routes.

Examples:

1. Finding Hidden Items in Zelda: In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, players navigate by observing distinct landmarks like shrines, mountains, or rivers to locate hidden items or characters. Instead of using a direct path, players remember these features to find their way back or explore new areas, which strengthens their spatial memory.
2. Learning the Map in Fortnite: In Fortnite, players begin to recognize key landmarks like Tilted Towers or Shifty Shafts. These landmarks help players orient themselves and plan their movements, eventually allowing them to navigate the map quickly without relying on the mini-map.
3. Navigating Mazes in Minecraft: In Minecraft, players often explore intricate cave systems or forests. By remembering specific formations, like waterfalls, caves, or clusters of unique blocks, they can navigate complex areas without getting lost. This challenges and improves spatial memory over time.

Using landmarks and spatial cues in these games requires attention and memory, actively engaging the hippocampus to create mental maps of virtual spaces. This process not only makes gameplay more immersive but also helps to improve real-life spatial navigation skills.

When kids (or adults) play video games using spatial navigation strategies, they exercise their hippocampus which helps in strengthening their spatial memory and awareness.

2. Response Strategy

Here, players rely on memorized sequences or patterns rather than environmental clues.

Navigating using memorized sequences or patterns means following a set of repeated movements, actions, or button presses rather than paying attention to the environment. This taps into the brain’s caudate nucleus, a region linked to habits and motor skills, as players build “muscle memory” instead of forming mental maps.

Examples:

1. Running a Dungeon in World of Warcraft: In World of Warcraft, players might repeatedly run the same dungeon to farm items or complete quests. Over time, they rely on a sequence of actions (turn left, defeat this enemy, go through that door) rather than looking for new landmarks. This habit-based navigation is stored in the caudate nucleus.
2. Mastering Levels in Super Mario Bros.: In Super Mario Bros., players learn to navigate levels by memorizing specific jumps, enemy positions, and timing. Instead of exploring the environment, players repeat these sequences to beat the level quickly and efficiently, creating patterns that become habitual.
3. Learning Combo Moves in Street Fighter: In Street Fighter, players memorize button combinations to execute moves like Hadouken or Shoryuken. This sequence-based navigation of moves becomes second nature with practice, strengthening the caudate nucleus by building motor memory.

Using memorized sequences like these relies on repetition rather than environmental awareness, engaging the caudate nucleus to make gameplay faster and more efficient. This kind of navigation develops strong habits and motor skills, distinct from spatial memory.

The Hippocampus vs. Caudate Nucleus in Gamers

The study found a fascinating contrast between these two strategies and their effects on the brain’s structure.

Increased Hippocampal Gray Matter with Spatial Strategy

Gamers who used a spatial approach to navigation showed more gray matter in the hippocampus. This suggests that games that encourage exploration and landmark recognition might actually improve your child’s hippocampal health, potentially benefiting memory and learning over the long term.

Increased Caudate Activity with Response Strategy

On the other hand, those who employed a response-based strategy saw increased activity in the caudate nucleus, often coupled with reduced hippocampal gray matter. This raises concerns, as a heavier reliance on the caudate at the expense of the hippocampus may diminish the brain’s ability to manage spatial memory and navigation effectively.

The Long-Term Implications of Playing Video Games for Brain Health

The type of video game and the strategy employed may influence cognitive health in distinct ways.

For instance:

• 3D Exploration Games: Games that promote spatial navigation could serve as a beneficial tool for hippocampal health. Studies show that these types of games could offer therapeutic benefits for cognitive decline related to aging or dementia by helping to stimulate hippocampal plasticity.
• Action and Fast-Paced Games: While these games are great for improving reaction time and certain decision-making skills, they may encourage players to rely more on response strategies, potentially reducing hippocampal volume if played exclusively over time.

So, Can Video Games Be Used for Brain Health?

To understand this, let’s look at these images. The first graph that you see in the image below shows a bar chart of how people who don’t play video games (referred to as ‘nonVGPs’ in the graph) responded to a puzzle compared to video gamers (referred to as ‘actionVGPs’). From the graph, it is evident that video gamers tended to use more response learning strategies than spatial learning strategies.

Now, if you look at MRI graphs in the b part of the image, we see the MRI scans used by the researchers to look at a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is crucial for memory and spatial navigation. They measured the amount of grey matter (brain tissue involved in processing) in the hippocampus for both groups (Gamers vs Non Gamers).

In video gamers, the amount of grey matter was lower in a specific area of the left hippocampus compared to non-gamers. While on the right side of the hippocampus, they saw a similar pattern, but it wasn’t as strong. They saw no other difference in other parts of the brain.

Now, from this, we can deduce that as habitual video gamers used more response strategies to solve the puzzle, their gray matter activation was lower than non-gamers who used spatial strategies.

Final Thoughts

Video gaming is a nuanced activity with the potential for both positive and negative effects on brain health. The key takeaway from this research is that not all gaming strategies are equal when it comes to brain structure. Gamers who engage in spatially demanding games may be doing their hippocampus a favor, while those sticking exclusively to habitual, response-based strategies may miss out on some of these benefits.

So, the next time your child picks up a controller, consider the type of game and the navigation strategies it encourages.