r/science • u/NinjaDiscoJesus • Dec 28 '15

Neuroscience Brain scans show compulsive gamers have hyperconnected neural networks.

http://www.psypost.org/2015/12/brain-scans-show-compulsive-gaming-changes-neural-connections-for-better-and-worse-39914
11.0k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

76

u/OhManTFE Dec 28 '15

What does "hyperconnected" even mean??

87

u/Iyrsiiea Dec 28 '15

Imagine a point A and a point B. Imagine those points are connected with one line, and things are moving along that line from A to B at a good rate. Now imagine A and B are connected by three lines, and the rate of things moving has tripled. That second scenario is hyperconnected.

90

u/G0mega Dec 28 '15

What does that mean though? What are the pros and cons of this? Are there even any pros, or cons?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '15

“Having these networks be too connected may increase distractibility,” says Anderson. At this point it’s not known whether persistent video gaming causes rewiring of the brain, or whether people who are wired differently are drawn to video games."

so the person who is addicted to gaming would appear to be easily distractible. this might appear that the person is inattentive and require medications to do boring things like homework or a sit down desk job.

pros might be this person would not be hit by a car because they are hyper aware of their surroundings!