Skip to main content
CNN.com /BUSINESS
*
EDITIONS:

MULTIMEDIA:

E-MAIL:
Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists.
Enter your address:

SERVICES:
CNN Mobile

CNN WEB SITES:
CNN Websites

DISCUSSION:

SITE INFO:

CNN NETWORKS:
CNN International

TIME INC. SITES:

WEB SERVICES:

Computer games 'cause brain damage'

A study from Japan's Tohoku University shows that computer games stunt brain development
A study from Japan's Tohoku University shows that computer games stunt brain development  


By Staff and reports

LONDON (CNN) -- Computer games stunt brain development and could cause children to be more disposed to violence than their parents, according to a new study.

According to the Observer newspaper, the man behind the study, Professor Ryuta Kawashima of Japan's Tohoku University, found that computer games only stimulate activity in the parts of the brain associated to vision and movement.

His findings indicated that children who play computer games halt the development process in other key areas of the brain, affecting their ability to control potentially anti-social elements of their behavior.

Visiting the UK to speak at an education conference, Kawashima said that in contrast to video games, math exercises stimulate brain activity in the left and right hemispheres of the frontal lobe -- the area most linked with learning, memory, emotion, and behavior control.

Violent society

"The importance of this discovery cannot be underestimated," the brain-mapping expert told the Observer.

"There is a problem we will have with a new generation of children -- who play computer games -- that we have never seen before."

"The implications are very serious for an increasingly violent society and these students will be doing more and more bad things if they are playing games and not doing other things like reading aloud or learning arithmetic."

Kawashima analyzed brain activity in children playing Nintendo games and in children engaging in an arithmetic exercise called Kraepelin, which involves adding single-digit numbers continuously for half an hour.

The researcher said the implication of his research on parenting was clear.

"Children need to be encouraged to learn basic reading and writing, of course," he said.

"But the other thing is to ask them to play outside with other children and interact and to communicate with others as much as possible.

"This is how they will develop, retain their creativity and become good people," he said.








RELATED SITE:
• Home Page of Tohoku University

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.


 Search   

Back to the top