Video games are a huge industry kids and young adults spend more time playing them than watching movies or TV. And some of the most popular video games are ultra realistic war and fighting games featuring massive amounts of hi-res violence.

 

　　So if you’re a parent, or a pundit, or maybe even a dedicated gamer, you’ve gotta wonder: does spending countless hours doing virtual violence to pixelated monsters and warriors have any effect on our sensitive and malleable brains?

 

　　To find out, researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine studied the effects of violent video games on twenty-eight non gaming guys. Half of them played a violent game for a week and then took a week off. The other half didn’t play any video games, acting as the control group.

 

　　After one week the subjects underwent fMRI analysis and then again after two weeks. During the fMRI sessions both groups did tasks meant to test their cognitive abilities.

 

　　Now, twenty-eight subjects is a pretty small sample size, but the results were interesting. After only one week of gaming, the guys that played the violent game showed decreased activity in parts of the brain associated with cognitive function and emotional control. After a cool down week of no gaming, the subjects’ brain functioning was closer to normal.

 

　　So does this prove that violent video games warp young men’s minds? Not exactly. That would take a much larger study. But the study at the very least suggests that doing pretend violence may have a real effect on how we think and act.

 

 

　　暴力电玩会改变我们的大脑么？

 

　　电子游戏是一个十分巨大的产业，儿童和年轻人在这上面花费了远比看电影和电视更多的时间。许多当前最流行的电子游戏是以数量庞大的高分辨率暴力画面为特征的超现实战斗和格斗游戏。

 

　　如果你是一位家长，或者一位专家，或是一位游戏发烧友，你不禁会感到疑惑，花大量时间对这些由像素构成的怪兽和战士实施虚拟的暴力是否会影响我们敏感而且可塑性强的大脑？

 

　　为了找出答案，印第安纳大学医学院的研究者研究了暴力电玩对28个从未接触过该类游戏的人的影响。他们让一半的研究对象持续打电玩一周然后休息一周，而另一半的人作为对照组，不打任何电玩。

 

　　一周后，对研究对象进行核磁共振分析，两周后，再进行一次核磁共振分析。在进行核磁共振期间，两个小组都接受了旨在测试他们认知能力的测验。

 

　　尽管28名测试对象这样的样本数是非常小的，但结果却是十分有趣的。在仅仅玩了一个星期的电玩后，这些玩暴力游戏的人就呈现出大脑控制认知能力和控制情绪部分的活动减少的情况。而那些一周没有玩游戏的人，他们的大脑功则会恢复到和正常水平相近的状况。

 

　　那么这项实验是否能够证明暴力电玩会扭曲年轻人的思想呢？也不尽然。想要证明这个观点还需要更大规模的实验。但这项实验至少表明，虚拟暴力确实会对我们的思想和行为方式造成一定的影响。