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Adolescents who spend more time playing video games tend to show differences in the outer layer of their brains, such as a thinner cortex and smaller surface area. The research, published in NeuroImage, provides a nuanced look at how solo play, social play, and mature content each relate to adolescent brain structure.
The cerebral cortex is the wrinkled outer layer of the brain responsible for higher-level processes like thinking, memory, emotion, and language. Researchers often measure its structure in two ways: cortical thickness, which is the depth of this tissue, and surface area, which represents how much space the folds cover. During early adolescence, the brain undergoes a natural remodeling process where the cortex typically thins out as brain circuits become more efficient.
Past research on how video games interact with this brain development has painted an inconsistent picture. For instance, an earlier study of 14-year-olds found that more gaming was linked to thicker frontal brain regions.
As highlighted in a 2019 review, this area of study has been complicated by conflicting findings and small groups of participants. These early studies struggled to determine whether gaming consistently expands or reduces certain brain regions in teenagers. To address these gaps, scientists have begun using massive national datasets to better understand how specific digital habits interact with the developing brain.
The new study was led by Jason M. Nagata, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and a principal investigator at the Nagata Lab. The research team aimed to clarify these structural brain links by examining a large, diverse group of young people.
“Video gaming is a major part of adolescents’ daily lives, but we still know relatively little about how it relates to brain development,” Nagata told PsyPost. “We wanted to examine these associations in a large, diverse sample and also look beyond total gaming time to whether adolescents played single-player, multiplayer, or mature-rated games.”
The researchers analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a large, ongoing project tracking youth health and brain development in the United States. For this analysis, the team looked at information from 5,686 adolescents who were around 14 years old on average. Participants completed surveys detailing how much time they spent playing single-player and multi-player video games on a typical weekday and weekend.
They also reported how often they played mature-rated games, which often feature violence or strong language. On average, the teens reported playing video games for about 3.1 hours per day, and about 81% reported playing at least some video games. To evaluate brain structure, the adolescents underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scans. These scans provided precise measurements of cortical thickness and surface area across various regions of the brain.
The analysis indicated that higher total time spent playing video games was associated with both a thinner cortex and a smaller cortical surface area in several regions of the brain. These differences were spread across the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes. The researchers adjusted their statistical models to account for factors like age, sex, genetic ancestry, household income, body weight, and non-gaming screen time, suggesting the link is specific to gaming behavior.
“Greater time spent gaming was associated with small but widespread differences in brain structure, including lower cortical surface area and thickness across several regions,” Nagata noted.
When breaking down the type of play, the team found that single-player gaming was linked to a lower surface area in regions of the brain involved in language processing, social cognition, and emotional regulation. Multi-player gaming, on the other hand, did not show statistical associations with differences in cortical structure. The content of the games also seemed to matter, as adolescents who more frequently played mature-rated games tended to have a thinner cortex in networks supporting attention and the processing of social and emotional cues.
“It was interesting that single-player and multiplayer gaming showed different patterns,” Nagata said. “Single-player gaming was associated with differences in several regions involved in language processing and social cognition, whereas multiplayer gaming was not significantly associated with cortical morphology after correcting for multiple comparisons.”
“This suggests that how adolescents game may matter in addition to how much they game,” the researcher added.
These findings align with research covered by PsyPost earlier this year, which found that higher average daily social media use was linked to a thinner cerebral cortex in young adolescents. Both studies suggest that high levels of digital media engagement relate to structural brain differences in this age group, though the specific activities differ.
There are a few things to keep in mind when interpreting these results. The study relies on a single point in time, meaning it is impossible to determine whether video gaming causes these brain differences or if adolescents with certain brain structures are simply more drawn to gaming.
“Because this was a cross-sectional study, we cannot determine whether gaming contributed to differences in brain structure or whether adolescents with pre-existing differences were more likely to engage in particular gaming behaviors,” Nagata explained.
The data on video game habits was based on self-reported estimates, which can sometimes be inaccurate as people tend to misjudge the exact hours they spend on screens. The researchers also did not assess the specific genres of the games being played, such as fast-paced action games versus strategic puzzle games, which might engage the brain in entirely different ways.
The authors note that a thinning cortex is a normal part of adolescent brain development. The observed differences were relatively small in magnitude, and long-term studies will be needed to see if these patterns represent a harmless variation in normal growth or something that affects cognitive health over time.
“These findings do not mean that video games necessarily damage adolescents’ brains,” Nagata said. “Lower cortical thickness or surface area also should not automatically be interpreted as harmful, since these measures can normally decrease during adolescent development.”
To build on these findings, the team plans to track the same participants as they grow older. “We would like to use longitudinal data to better understand the direction of these associations,” Nagata said. “Future studies should also examine more detailed aspects of gaming, including specific genres and content, social versus solitary gaming, and problematic gaming behaviors.”
“One important message is that not all gaming is necessarily the same,” he concluded. “Future research and guidance may need to consider not only how much adolescents game, but also what they play and the social context in which they play.”
The study, “Associations Between Video Gaming Behaviors and Cortical Morphology in Adolescents,” was authored by Jason M. Nagata, Kevin Bao, Kevin Handoko, Stuart B. Murray, Kristen E. Kim, Pierre Nedelec, Eva Muller-Oehring, Aaron Scheffler, Leana E. King, Andreas M. Rauschecker, and Fiona C. Baker.