Is video gaming bad for you? The science for and against 

Many studies and reports have been compiled about the effects of video gaming Credit: Alamy

 "They're melting your brain". "They're ruining your eyes". "They're turning you into a violent person".

The criticisms levelled against video gaming are so common, so ubiquitous, that some can border on clichés. But are these worries founded in actual science?

new study suggests some concerns may be.

The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Montreal, revealed that playing "shooter" games can damage the hippocampus area of the brain, causing it to lose cells.

It suggests that this could weaken the brains of young people and put them at greater risk of dementia in later life, but before you put your Xbox on eBay, it's worth noting that scientists have cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from this study alone because it's based on a small sample size.

So how do we know who to trust? Countless studies have offered conflicting conclusions on how detrimental video gaming is to your health – both mental and physical - and it can be difficult to get a sense of the harm or good caused by video games.

We've rounded up the most notable reports and studies below, so you can weigh up the evidence for yourself.

 FOR: Video games make your brain grow

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In 2013, psychologist Simone Kühn studied the effects of prolonged video game exposure on the brains of young adults – and found that several areas of grey matter expanded significantly.

Kühn observed her subjects as they played Super Mario 64 for 30 minutes every day, for two months. After undergoing MRI scans and being compared to the brains of a control group, the psychologist discovered that the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum had all grown.

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 "The prefrontal cortex is known to be involved in higher cognitive functions including strategic planning, but also in cognitive control," Kühn says.

 "The hippocampus is involved in memory formation," the psychologist continues," with the right hippocampus being particularly involved in spatial navigation, namely in helping us orient ourselves. 

 "The cerebellum, on the other hand, is known to be involved with fine motor function, and the region in which we found the changes after video game playing is, predictably, the region where the digits of the hands are controlled."

AGAINST: Video games make you more violent

Last year, psychologists claimed that video game players who favour violent 'shoot-em-up' games are more likely to be aggressive and ferocious when offline, and significantly more at risk of committing crimes.

Dr Mark Appelbaum of the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded that the research demonstrated a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behaviour.

 "Aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect, as wells as decreases in pro-social behaviour, empathy and sensitivity to aggression" were also cited as negative consequences of game playing in the APA report.

The data, from more than 300 video game studies published between 2005 and 2013, comprised thousands of statistics from previous tests and surveys.

 "While there is some variation among the individual studies, a strong and consistent general pattern has emerged from many years of research that provides confidence in our general conclusions," said Appelbaum.

FOR: Video games make you more self-aware and happier

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Berni Good is a cyberpsychologist who provides bespoke consultations and psychological services for gamers. She has studied and collated research from around the world in an attempt to gauge computer games' effects on our wellbeing.

 "We've seen overarching themes related to positive psychology," Good tells me, "and a strand of psychology called Eudemonics - the theory or art of happiness.

 "One area of research that is very robust and researched extensively within this strand is Self Determination Theory (SDT) whereby gamers can address their fundamental psychological needs through playing games.

 "I have discovered that there are three key needs within SDT that tap into motivation and a sense of wellbeing.  

 "The first is the strong human need to feel competent - something the mastering of gameplay and progressing through levels helps with. Next we have the human need to relate to others in a meaningful way, and the research tells us that players feel greatly rewarded sharing their gaming experiences with others on social media and also in multiplayer environments.

 "Lastly within the SDT model is human need for autonomy, the idea that we need to be the masters of our own destiny. In gaming this need is obviously addressed very well, with choosing what paths or maps we take in the game, or with our characters."

AGAINST: Video games make you less empathetic

Earlier this year, an American study found that young men who play violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto have a lower capacity for female empathy than those who play more benign games.

After playing Grand Theft Auto, in which women are presented as sexual objects, a large sample of teenage boys reported significantly lower levels of sympathy and compassion when shown a photo of a female victim of domestic violence.

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 "Most people would look at these images and say the girl pictured has to be terrified. But males who really identified with their characters in the sexist, violent games didn't feel as much empathy for the victim," said Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and Professor of Communication and Psychology at The Ohio State University.

Bushman believes that the extent to which schoolboys feel they identify with the protagonists of violent and sexist video games was the most troubling discovery of the study.

"If you see a movie with a sexist character, there's a certain distance," the Ohio-based professor said. "But, in a video game, you are physically linked to the character. You control what he does. That can have a real effect on your thoughts, feelings, and behaviour, at least in the short term."

FOR: Video gaming improves your eyesight

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In 2012, researchers from Canada's McMaster University discovered that playing video games can drastically improve the eyesight of the visually impaired.

The study tested six adults aged 19 to 31 who were born with cataracts in both eyes. 

Even though the subjects had had the problem fixed through surgery and special contact lenses in early childhood, they still had trouble reading small print, following moving objects and identifying faces.

However, after playing a first-person shooter video game for 40 hours over a month-long period, the patients' vision improved enough that they could read one or two lines further down on a standard optician's eye chart.

They also became better at following the direction of movement, detecting slow rates of flicker and distinguishing between faces.

FOR: Video games can fix attention problems

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Dr Daphne Bavelier is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an expert in the field of Brain & Cognitive Sciences. Her work, that focuses heavily on the effects of video gaming, was the feature of a 2012 TED talk.

In this presentation, the cognitive researcher debunked many of the common misconceptions about video gaming, and backed each point up with her own scientific findings.

During her talk, Bavelier presented the audience with the infamous 'word colour' test. Where non-gamers are easily confused by the puzzle, says the researcher, those who spend long periods playing on their consoles or computers tend to pass the test with flying colours...

 "Actually, those action video game players have many other advantages in terms of attention," Bavelier continues, "and one aspect of attention which is also improved for the better is our ability to track objects around in the world. This is something we use all the time. When you're driving, you're tracking, keeping track of the cars around you. You're also keeping track of the pedestrian, the running dog, and that's how you can actually be safe driving, right?

