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Here we go again. In a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a team of Canadian researchers compared the way a group of regular gamers learn and pay attention to a group of non-gamers. Not surprisingly they found that the gamers behave differently. They also used a technique called electroencephalography to show that a brain wave called the N2PC is different in gamers, which fits with their behavioural results.
So far this is all pretty sensible, so where is the link to Alzheimer’s disease? In fact, the researchers didn’t look at dementia or perform any clinical tests. But they nevertheless embark on a series of logical leaps, which go like this:
1. The type of learning shown by the gamers has been associated in previous studies with increased use of a brain region called the caudate nucleus
2. Increased use of the caudate nucleus can be associated with reduced volume of the hippocampus
3. Reduced volume of the hippocampus can be associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease
4. Therefore (take a deep breath) video gaming could increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Convinced?
As usual, the news headlines conflate this conjecture with fact. “Call of Duty increases risk of Alzheimer’s disease”, said the Telegraph. “Video game link to psychiatric disorders suggested by study”, reported the Guardian. The Daily Mail posed the problem as a question, “Could video games increase your risk of Alzheimer’s?”, reminding us that whenever a news headline asks a question, the answer is no.
www.theguardian.com
So far this is all pretty sensible, so where is the link to Alzheimer’s disease? In fact, the researchers didn’t look at dementia or perform any clinical tests. But they nevertheless embark on a series of logical leaps, which go like this:
1. The type of learning shown by the gamers has been associated in previous studies with increased use of a brain region called the caudate nucleus
2. Increased use of the caudate nucleus can be associated with reduced volume of the hippocampus
3. Reduced volume of the hippocampus can be associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease
4. Therefore (take a deep breath) video gaming could increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Convinced?
As usual, the news headlines conflate this conjecture with fact. “Call of Duty increases risk of Alzheimer’s disease”, said the Telegraph. “Video game link to psychiatric disorders suggested by study”, reported the Guardian. The Daily Mail posed the problem as a question, “Could video games increase your risk of Alzheimer’s?”, reminding us that whenever a news headline asks a question, the answer is no.
No, there is no evidence for a link between video games and Alzheimer’s disease | Chris Chambers & Pete Etchells
Chris Chambers: Another day, another ridiculous headline about the apparently disastrous consequences of playing video games on the brain
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