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Video Games Violence Goes Straight to Kids Heads, Forbes, Novemeber 28, 2006, http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2006/11/28/hscout536261.html, December 20, 2006

"This is the first time that it has been demonstrated that violent video games can affect brain physiology and the way the brain functions," said lead researcher Dr. Vincent Mathews, professor of radiology at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Video games accounted for $10 billion in sales in the United States last year, but there is growing concern about the effects the games may have on those who play them.
In the study, Mathews's team randomly assigned 44 adolescents to play either a violent video game or a nonviolent video game for 30 minutes. They then had the adolescents undergo functional MRI (fMRI) brain scans while performing tasks that measured concentration and inhibition. fMRI measures real-time changes that occur when the brain is active.

The Indiana group found that, compared to children who weren't playing a violent video game, kids who played these games had more activation in the amygdala, a brain area closely linked to emotional arousal. At the same time, their brains showed a reduced activation in prefrontal brain areas involved in inhibition, concentration and self-control. "These findings raise concern that these types of video games are having some sort of effect on the brain and likely an effect on behavior as well," Mathews said.

Bickham said parents need to be vigilant regarding the media they are letting into their homes, since children learn from all media they encounter. "This is more evidence that violent media can lead to aggressive and negative behaviors," he said.
~How many parents have concerns about the influence of violence on there kids?