A separate brain region for Pokémon
14.3.2020
Translation: machine translated
According to a scientific study, playing Pokémon changes our brain structures.
Recognising faces is crucial for social behaviour. We have the plasticity of our visual cortex to thank for the fact that we become experts at this over the course of our development. Even babies prefer to look at faces, and this is also reflected in the brain: the little ones develop an area specialised in faces, the coordinates of which overlap surprisingly strongly from person to person.
But which object properties determine whether an expert area develops? To answer this question, researchers from Stanford University have now analysed eleven adults who had one thing in common: They had played Pokémon excessively on the Gameboy from the age of five during their childhood. While the scientists scanned their brains using fMRI, the test subjects looked at pictures of Pokémon, animals, words or cars. The results were astonishing: in the former players, a very specific area of the visual cortex was always stimulated when looking at the pocket monsters. In the control group, however, the region remained silent. The researchers found that the very specific characteristics of the Pokémon, such as the size of their image on the retina, influenced the development and exact localisation of the area.
Apparently, things that we see particularly frequently in childhood can change the architecture of our visual system. Therapeutic interventions, for example for autism or impaired facial recognition, should therefore be carried out as early as possible, the authors conclude.
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