Playing Pokémon May Have Hardwired Your Brain As A Kid

If you are one of those people who loved playing Pokémon as a kid, chances are that your brain is wired in a certain way that enables you to respond more intuitively to cartoon characters than other pictures. As per the latest investigation performed by researchers at Stanford reveals that people who played Pokémon in their childhood exhibit preferential activation to Pokémon characters. The game may have affected the human brain after all.

Scientists found out that a certain area of the brain behind the ears responded more in case of avid Pokémon fans than those who did not play the game at all. It is already known that humans have specific areas of the brain dedicated to recognizing numbers, words, images and faces. For instance, the human brain responds differently to celebrities like Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise than it does to other people. Scientists at Stanford decided that to confirm the same study at a younger age, Pokémon fans are the most suited options, as they were already exposed to the game when they were quite young.

The existing theory was confirmed in terms that childhood exposure is in fact necessary in order to develop the regions of brain dedicated to recognition and experiential learning. The fold behind the ear, which is called the occipitotemporal responds to images of Pokémon in the same way as it responds to images of animals. Furthermore, researchers believe that the brain acts in a certain way that enables it to decide how to respond to a specific image.  

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Researchers state that the reason they chose Pokémon was not only because they are loved by kids, instead, owing to a multitude of characters associated with the universe, the Pokémon family was more suited to the same. Since the game rewards its players with in-game items, it creates a memory associated with the same that is tough to eradicate. Additionally, the researchers said that all the test subjects grew up to be very successful people. They all had PhDs, indicating that the game had no adverse effect of any kind on young brains during childhood.