Press Releases
Violent Video Games Trigger Unusual Brain Activity in Aggressive Adolescents

Released: December 2, 2002

At A Glance

  • Adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) have different brain structure and brain activation patterns than nonaggressive adolescents.
  • When watching violent video games, aggressive adolescents had less brain activation than the nonaggressive control group.
  • Normal adolescents previously exposed to greater amounts of violent media also exhibited differences in brain function.
  • Adolescents with DBD showed abnormal development of the brain's frontal lobes.
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    CHICAGO—Aggressive adolescents diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) use their brains differently than nonaggressive adolescents when watching violent video games, and the variation could be attributed to differences in actual brain structure, according to early results of two studies being presented at the 88th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). These are the first studies to look at the brains of aggressive adolescents with DBD.

    "We have preliminary evidence demonstrating that adolescents with DBD have different brain structure and brain activation patterns than nonaggressive adolescents," said co-author Vincent P. Mathews, M.D., professor of radiology and chief of neuroradiology at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

    Disruptive behavior disorders are a group of significant behavioral problems that affect children and adolescents. The problems include aggressive disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)—which is characterized by hostility, hyperactivity, impulsiveness, defiance of authority and verbal aggression; and conduct disorder—which is characterized by cruelty to animals and humans, physical violence, sexual aggression, substance abuse, weapons use and other antisocial behaviors.

    An estimated 5 percent to 10 percent of children have ODD and 4 percent of adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16 are diagnosed with conduct disorder.

    Both research reports are from a two-year study of aggressive adolescents with DBD compared with normal adolescents. The researchers are primarily interested in frontal lobe function, because the frontal lobes are involved in emotional control, attention, response inhibition and a variety of other cognitive functions.


    Brain Activation and Violent Video Games

    "This is the first evidence that adolescents with aggressive, disruptive behavior disorders have brain activation patterns that are different from nonaggressive adolescents," said Dr. Mathews.

    Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers evaluated brain activation patterns in response to stimuli from violent video games and exciting but nonviolent video games to compare the aggressive adolescents with the control group.

    The researchers found different patterns and amounts of brain activation in the DBD group while the group viewed a violent video game versus a nonviolent video game. Aggressive adolescents have less activation in the frontal lobes as well as less overall brain activation.

    The researchers also found that among subgroups of the nonaggressive adolescents there were differences in brain function dependent upon the amount of previous violent media exposure. Control subjects with high violent media exposure had different brain activation patterns than control subjects with low violent media exposure. "There may actually be a difference in the way the brain responds depending on the amount of past violent media exposure through video games, movies and television," Dr. Mathews explained.

    The study participants, 19 adolescents who met the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder or ODD and 19 age-matched normal control subjects, viewed clips from two different types of video games. The brain activation patterns elicited by a car race game (excitement without violence) and a James Bond video game (violence) were measured by fMRI for comparison.

    Dr. Mathews suggested that fMRI may eventually play a role in gauging the effects of psychiatric or psychological treatment of aggressive adolescents. "The next step is evaluating treatment. We will look at the interventional effects to determine if they have changed the way the brain functions. It may be that the brain will normalize after treatment," Dr. Mathews said.


    Disruptive Behavior Disorders Associated with Irregular Frontal Lobe Structure

    Early results in another study component indicate there are biological differences between adolescents with DBD and those without.

    Twenty-nine subjects—11 who were diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorders and 18 age-matched, normal control subjects—underwent magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to map the white matter structural integrity and connections between different parts of their brains.

    The researchers found that adolescents with DBD had abnormal development of the white matter in the brain's frontal lobes.

    "Potentially, the structural differences we found in the brains of the adolescents diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorders could account for their behavior problems. This may be part of the explanation as to why we see differences in activation through fMRI and also differences in behavior in society," Dr. Mathews said.

    Co-authors of the violent media exposure presentation are lead author Yang Wang, M.D., Mark J. Lowe, Ph.D., Joseph T. Lurito, M.D., Ph.D., Mario Dzemidzic, Ph.D., William G. Kronenberger, Ph.D., David Dunn, M.D., and Michael D. Phillips, M.D.

    Co-authors of the frontal lobe structure presentation are lead author Tie-Qiang Li, Ph.D., Yang Wang, Ph.D., William G. Kronenberger, Ph.D., and David Dunn, M.D.

    The RSNA is an association of more than 33,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists and physicists in medicine dedicated to education and research in the science of radiology. The Society's headquarters are located at 820 Jorie Blvd., Oak Brook, Ill. 60523-2251.

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    Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers evaluated brain activation patterns in response to stimuli from violent video games to compare aggressive adolescents with a control group of nonaggressive adolescents. Aggressive adolescents with Disruptive Behavior Disorder have less activation in the frontal lobes (bottom images) than the control group (top images).  
       
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    High-res. TIF
    Researchers also found that among subgroups of the nonaggressive adolescents there were differences in brain function dependent upon the amount of previous violent media exposure. Control subjects with high violent media exposure (bottom images) had different brain activation patterns than control subjects with low violent media exposure (top images).  

    View related abstracts:

    Effects of Violent Media Exposure by Adolescents with Disruptive Behavior Disorder as Compared to Control Subjects: fMRI Activation Patterns in Frontal Lobe

    MR Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study of Adolescents with and without Disruptive Behavior Disorders

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    Editor's note: The data in these releases may be different from those in the printed abstract and those actually presented at the meeting, as researchers continue to update their data right up until the meeting. To ensure you are using the most up-to-date information, please call the RSNA newsroom at (312) 791-6667.