136 - Mind-altering media

From a NewScientist article.

One thing researchers agree on is that any technology we use will change the brain. There's nothing surprising or sinister about this, says Martin Westwell at the University of Oxford's Institute for the Future of the Mind. "You are who you are largely because of the way the brain cells wire up in response to the environment and the things you do," he says. "If you change the wiring you will change how we think."
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Experiments in the lab have addressed the causal question, by dishing out particular viewing or gaming experiences followed by behavioural tests or questionnaires. This kind of study has shown that after watching just half an hour of violence, children have more devious and aggressive thoughts, are more likely to inflict punishments, and are less likely to cooperate.

Brain imaging and other physiological measures also reveal changes in emotional responses to violent images as a result of viewing violence or playing violent games. Bruce Bartholow of the University of Missouri, Columbia, has found that people with a history of game playing have a reduced brain response to shocking pictures, suggesting that people begin to see such imagery as more normal. Another study found that frontal lobe activity was reduced in youngsters who played a violent video game for 30 minutes, compared with those playing an equally exciting but non-violent game. This brain region is important for concentration and impulse control, among other things. A region called the amygdala, important for emotional control, was more aroused in those who experienced the violent game.

Other studies show that children store memories of violent media acts in brain regions reserved for long-term storage of significant events. These memories can pop back into the mind very rapidly, even when not wanted, as flashbacks.


Link - Mind-altering media

This link won't get you the whole article. If you want access to all of the magazine it's worth the price. But there is still a lot of good free access to most articles.
The "more normal" bold is my accent. I thought it made the paragraph perfect for my site.