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Research shows that video gaming can affect the brain and cause changes in many regions of the brain. Scientific studies explored structural changes in the brain and also analyzed changes in brain functionality and behavior. Results of the studies indicate that playing video games not only changes how our brains perform but also their structure.

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Video game use is known to affect attention. Studies show that video game players display improvements in several types of attention, including sustained attention and selective attention. The regions of the brain that play a role in attention are more efficient in gamers compared to non-gamers. They require less activation to stay focused on demanding tasks.

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Video gaming can be addictive. In gaming addicts, there are functional and structural changes in the neural reward system having to do with pleasure, learning, and motivation.

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Evidence demonstrates that playing video games increases the size and competence of sections of the brain responsible for our visuospatial skills. Video games increase a person’s ability to identify visual and spatial relationships among objects. Gaming has been proved to enlarge the right hippocampus. A sector of our brain which plays an important role in motivation, emotion, learning, and memory.

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Playing video games triggers our fight-or-flight response, which builds up energy. When the fight-or-flight state occurs too often, or too intensely though, the brain and body have trouble regulating themselves back to a calm state, leading to a state of chronic stress. The build-up of energy is meant to be physically released to allow the nervous system to "settle", but research suggests that screen-time induces stress reactions even in children who exercise regularly.

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Games are goal-directed. So, whenever we play a game, we use our mental ability to actively attempt to achieve particular outcomes. In a way, games are similar to learning to play an instrument because of all the cognitive benefits that come with both.

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Video games consist of cause and effect. Games train the brain to discover the hidden logic that determine the outer appearance of the world. With stories, our brains are presented with a series of events.Our brains explore the game, trying to understand how the parts connect.

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Games are surprising. They are designed to produce situations we don’t expect and problems of which the solutions to are not obvious. In the real world we are often confronted by problems with unpredictable outcomes. Games give our brains the chance and opportunity to safely explore the dangerous unpredictability of the real world.

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Excessive usage could be changing children’s brain reward systems in the long term, making them more susceptible to other addictions later in life. It is believed that video games sensitize the reward system of young children. It is in question whether or not this increases their chances of becoming addicted to drugs alcohol later in life. Since they are younger their brains are more flexible, so there is thought to be a bigger risk of future addiction for them.

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Video games can train players to be more personally accountable. Accomplishments in a game tend to trigger dopamine release in the brain which rewards the player for their hard work.

This reward cycle can teach players about perseverance and personal accountability.

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Nichols, Hannah. “How Video Games Affect the Brain.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon    International, 10 July 2017, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318345.php.

Dunckley, Victoria L. “This Is Your Child's Brain on Video Games.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, LLC, 25 Sept. 2016, www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/mental-wealth/201609/is-your-childs-brain-video-games.

McFadden, Christopher. “Playing Video Games Can Actually Change the Brain.” Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 22 Apr. 2019, interestingengineering.com/playing-video-games-can-actually-change-the-brain.

Hymas, Charles and Dodds, Laurence. “Addictive Video Games May Change Children's Brains in the Same Way as Drugs and Alcohol, Study Reveals.” The Telegraph News, Telegraph Media Group Limited , 13 June 2018, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/12/addictive-video-games-may-change-childrens-brains-way-drugs/.

Lantz, Frank. “This Is Your Brain on Video Games.” Quartz, JOYSTICK/ANGERSTICK, 14 Dec. 2018, qz.com/1492087/this-is-your-brain-on-video-games/.