青少年遊戲愛好者大腦結構和賭徒類似

teenagers who spend hours playing video games may have a similar brain structure to gambling addicts, research suggests.

In a study of 14-year-olds, those who played frequently had a larger "reward centre" in their brains than those who played less often.

Brain scans showed those who played for more than nine hours a week produced more of the "feel-good" chemical dopamine.

They produced even more when they were losing, an effect seen in pathological gamblers which is thought to be what prevents them from stopping when they are on a losing streak.

Playing video games was also shown to reduce decision time – a key skill for being good at them – which is also a characteristic of gamblers.

The researchers do not know whether gaming causes the brain to change, or whether people are born with this brain structure which makes them want to spend hours playing.

But they say it is a crucial first step in understanding whether video games could be addictive.

This study, published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, is the first to connect frequent video gaming with differences in both brain structure and activity.

Dr Simon Kuhn of Ghent University in Belgium and colleagues in the UK and Germany analysed brain scans of more than 150 teenagers who were classified as playing video games either moderately or a lot.

Those who played a lot had a larger ventral striatum, the reward area which is activated when we experience pleasure, for example by winning money, eating chocolate or having sex.

Dr Luke Clark, who researches gambling at Cambridge University, said: "The ventral striatum is at the heart of the reward system and that puts video gaming into the context of addictions."

"We know the brain can change in adulthood, but the burning question is whether the video gaming is the cause or the effect, and that still needs to be answered."據英國《每日郵報》11月15日報道，研究表明，花費數小時玩電動遊戲的青少年可能具有和賭博成癮者相似的大腦結構。

在一項針對14歲青少年的研究中，比起不常玩遊戲的孩子，那些玩遊戲比較頻繁的青少年大腦中有個一個更大的“獎賞中心”。

腦部掃描顯示，那些一週玩遊戲超過九個小時的青少年大腦中會產生更多的“感覺良好”多巴胺。

遊戲輸掉時他們的大腦中甚至會產生更多這種物質，同樣的效果也常見於病態的賭徒身上，人們認爲正是這種物質使得賭徒們在連輸的情況下仍然無法停下來。

玩電動遊戲還會減少玩家的決策時間——這是擅長遊戲所要具備的一項關鍵技能——同時也是賭徒的特點之一。

研究人員不知道是玩遊戲引起了大腦的變化，還是這些人與生俱來的大腦結構使他們想要花費數小時玩遊戲。

但是研究人員表示，對於瞭解電動遊戲是否會成癮，這已經邁出了關鍵的第一步。

這項研究發表在《轉化精神病學》雜誌上，也是第一次將頻繁地打電動遊戲與大腦結構和行爲活動之間的差異聯繫起來。

比利時根特大學的西蒙•庫恩博士與他英國和德國的同事一道分析了150多名青少年的腦部掃描結果，這些青少年都被歸類爲中等或非常喜歡玩電動遊戲的人羣。

那些非常喜歡玩遊戲的青少年大腦中的腹側紋狀體更大，這一結構是人腦中的獎賞區域，每當我們獲得快感時，比如贏錢、吃巧克力或是發生性行爲，這一區域就會被激活。

劍橋大學專門研究賭博行爲的盧克•克拉克博士指出：“腹側紋狀體是人體獎勵機制的核心所在，它使得電動遊戲也列入了成癮的範圍。”

“我們都知道大腦會在成年時發生改變，但目前緊急的問題是要弄清電動遊戲究竟是大腦結構改變的原因還是結果，這仍需要給出答案。”