How Video Games Can Change Behavior

perhaps you've seen videos like this appear in your social media feeds lately stop the concept is pretty simple parents prank their kids by unplugging the child's video game console in the middle of gameplay and the reactions are viral gold I'm stop stop no one likes to be forced to stop having fun but something different is happening here if you were to take away a child's books or Legos you're not likely to get a reaction like this so what's going on here why are these meltdowns so [Music] dramatic why did you do that that was my game to get into the OverWatch League you literally just ru these reactions aren't necessarily because of an addiction to gaming instead what we witness in these videos are children who are victims of their own Biology one of the reasons the children in these videos find it so hard to control themselves is because they don't yet have a fully developed prefrontal cortex another factor is dopamine which is often referred to is a brain's pleasure chemical because it's associated with feelings of euphoria motivation and concentration the stimulation we receive from playing a video game impacts the same Pathways that are present when one is becoming intoxicated with a substance video game designers have gotten remarkably adapt at keeping Gamers entranced with a steady source of intermittent rewards more rewards means a constant stream of dopamine released into the brain throughout gameplay so when when a parent pulls the plug on a child's video game there's an even more powerful effect [Music]