Addiction: Gaming

Thursday, September 8, 2011
Well whaddya know? Gaming has been shown to be actually addictive in the same sense that say heroin, or crack is addictive. Yes that is right! An addicted drug user and an addicted gamer both share the same neurobiological behaviour as shown in a study that looked at brain scans of addicted drug users and gamers. (1) Another study found that certain images or "cues" from certain games were able to invoke cravings in addicted gamers (2).

1. Ko, C.-H., Liu, G.-C., Hsiao, S., Yen, J.-Y., Yang, M.-J., Lin, W.-C., Yen, C.-F., et al. (2009). Brain activities associated with gaming urge of online gaming addiction. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 43,(7), pp. 739-747. Source
2. Ko, C.-H., Liu, G.-C., Yen, J.-Y., Chen, C.-Y., Yen, C.-F., & Chen, C.-S. (2011). Brain correlates of craving for online gaming under cue exposure in subjects with Internet gaming addiction and in remitted subjects. Addiction Biology. Retrieved from Source

Further Reading (has extracts from research on this page) (introduces you to the concept of the Skinner Box, a psychological mechanism used by certain gaming companies - think of it like nicotine for cigarettes) (farmville addiction lol)
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