People Who Played Pokémon As A Kid Have A Special Region In The Brain Dedicated To It

Researchers found out that people who played Pokémon when they were kids develop a brain part that is more sensitive to cartoon characters than other types of images. More importantly, this research gives us a clearer idea of how human’s mind keep visual data.

For this study, researchers conduct tests on 11 people who played the game extensively. Most of them started playing when they were between the age of five or eight and then stopped. When they reached adulthood, they played it again.

Here is how they did the research. First, they tested the subjects with Pokémon names to verify their understanding of the game. The next step is to show the participants pictures of Pokémon with irrelevant images like words, other cartoons, or animals. The result of the test indicates that people with experience playing the game will have a specific section in their brain reacts more to Pokémon than with other images. They also tested on people who are new to the game and found out that there was no particular reaction.

This is not actually a surprising finding as if a person does anything for long enough; their brain will change, not just playing Pokémon as a kid. Our brain has specific cell clusters for identifying images. For example, scientists have found a region dedicated to Jennifer Aniston. What scientists need to answer now is how the brain can recognize these images. What it does might be to form a pattern of how linear and round the objects are or the level at which they are still or animated.

One way to answer these questions is to show kids (because their brains are still developing), a visual stimulus they do not know about and then train them to recognize it. While doing so, scientists will keep track of which brain part reacts.

Jesse Gomez, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology, at the University of California at Berkeley. He took inspiration from a similar one on monkeys. However, this method is unsuitable to do on humans.

This kind of research needs to be conducted in controlled environments. All the test subjects must be shown the same pictures in the same environment of viewing angles and light. Not to mention that this process must be repeated again and again.

Since there is no way you can test on kids in the way you do on monkeys, Gomez thought that Pokémon could be a substitute.

The game was so popular in the 90s that a lot of people saw a small number of black-and-white images at the distance of at least a foot away, making them the perfect test subjects Gomez needed.

The results of this research support the eccentricity bias theory. It suggests that our brain will react with different parts depend on the size and the angle at which we look at the images. The region this latest research confirmed is activated when people see something directly, so the theory is proven.

Pokémon seems to be Gomez’s favorite method to research as he suggested that a similar approach can be used on sounds. Every time a pocket monster makes its appearance, it usually comes with a certain sound. So Gomez said that he would like to see if our auditory part has a section for Pokémon too.