Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
Charité University Medicine, St Hedwig-Krankenhaus, Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Berlin, Germany.
Mol Psychiatry. 2014 Feb;19(2):265-71. doi: 10.1038/mp.2013.120. Epub 2013 Oct 29.
Video gaming is a highly pervasive activity, providing a multitude of complex cognitive and motor demands. Gaming can be seen as an intense training of several skills. Associated cerebral structural plasticity induced has not been investigated so far. Comparing a control with a video gaming training group that was trained for 2 months for at least 30 min per day with a platformer game, we found significant gray matter (GM) increase in right hippocampal formation (HC), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and bilateral cerebellum in the training group. The HC increase correlated with changes from egocentric to allocentric navigation strategy. GM increases in HC and DLPFC correlated with participants' desire for video gaming, evidence suggesting a predictive role of desire in volume change. Video game training augments GM in brain areas crucial for spatial navigation, strategic planning, working memory and motor performance going along with evidence for behavioral changes of navigation strategy. The presented video game training could therefore be used to counteract known risk factors for mental disease such as smaller hippocampus and prefrontal cortex volume in, for example, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and neurodegenerative disease.
电子游戏是一种高度普及的活动，它提供了多种复杂的认知和运动需求。可以将游戏视为对多种技能的强化训练。到目前为止，尚未研究与之相关的大脑结构可塑性。通过比较对照组和接受了为期 2 个月、每天至少 30 分钟的平台游戏训练的电子游戏训练组，我们发现训练组的右侧海马体（HC）、右侧背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）和双侧小脑的灰质（GM）明显增加。HC 的增加与从自我中心到他心导航策略的变化相关。HC 和 DLPFC 的 GM 增加与参与者对电子游戏的渴望相关，这表明渴望在体积变化中具有预测作用。电子游戏训练增强了与空间导航、战略规划、工作记忆和运动表现相关的大脑区域的 GM，同时也证明了导航策略的行为变化。因此，所提出的电子游戏训练可以用于对抗已知的精神疾病风险因素，例如创伤后应激障碍、精神分裂症和神经退行性疾病中较小的海马体和前额叶皮层体积。
