Mind Games #6: Video Games and ADHD
Gaming is an interactive experience. We play games -- but at the same time, games play us. In this column, psychologist Nicholaus Noles explores how video games manipulate our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, all in the name of fun.
Pay Attention!
In a recent piece published here on GameSpy, writer Evan Hoovler -- who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder -- discussed how video games taught him skills that improved his life. At the end of the piece, our own resident commenter, Spy Guy, asked, "What do you think about scientific studies linking ADHD to video games? Are these brainiacs on the right track, or do they really have it all backwards?" Well, when Spy Guy asks a question about psychology, I feel that it's my job to give him an answer.
ADHD is characterized by inattention and impulsiveness. Although people with ADHD are sometimes stereotyped as hyper or bouncing off the walls, modern theories suggest their symptoms are actually caused by brainwave activity that is too low. When I talk about "brainwaves," I'm referring to the amount of electrical activity going on in your brain when you do different things. For example, when you're working or taking a test or even playing a video game, a lot of electrical activity can be measured in your brain. In contrast, when you get bored or start to fall asleep, the amount of electrical activity in your brain goes way down. The brains of people with ADHD often dip down into the sleepy range of brainwave activity or fail to become as active as they should be when they're trying to pay attention. This causes them to lose focus, and makes it difficult for them to stay on task.
Video games pop up in ADHD discussions for several reasons. Most importantly: the correlation between ADHD and playing lots of video games. Several scientific studies show that people who play two or more hours of video games per day find it harder to pay attention, and are much more likely to have an ADHD diagnosis than people who play an average of one hour of video games (or less) per day. Also, studies suggest that playing video games temporarily increases the attention problems experienced by people with ADHD, in some situations.
Now, this evidence seems pretty convincing. People who play video games are more likely to have ADHD -- so video games must cause ADHD, right? Well, not exactly; you see, a correlation occurs when two things are detected together, but a correlation does not necessarily mean that one of those two things causes the other. For example, if we open up all of the lunchboxes in the world right now, it's likely that lots of sandwiches with peanut butter on them will also have jelly on them. The peanut butter doesn't actually cause the jelly to appear on the sandwich, but they show up together all the time.
What's true to PB&J sandwiches is also true for video games: ADHD and video games show up together, with several reasonable explanations as to why they might co-occur. First, it could be true that playing video games causes people to develop ADHD. Second, it could be true that people with ADHD are really attracted to video games; video games are designed to grab and hold your attention, so they might be even more attractive to people with attention problems. Third, both of these explanations could be true: Video games cause ADHD, and having ADHD makes video games more attractive. Finally, it is possible that an additional unknown cause leads people to both develop ADHD and love video games.
It's obvious that simply playing video games isn't giving everyone ADHD. I've invested tens of thousands of hours into playing video games since I was a preteen, and I don't have ADHD -- and some young kids develop have ADHD without ever touching a controller or keyboard. If a simple cause-and-effect relationship existed between gaming and ADHD, the pattern would be obvious and widespread. Instead, we have a correlation between gaming and ADHD. One last bit of science: Recent research suggests that ADHD, like other mental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism, may have a strong genetic component. If so, then we may have to change the way we think about the relationship between ADHD and video games. Instead of being the root cause of ADHD, excessive gaming may simply trigger a preexisting problem with attention, or cause preexisting ADHD symptoms to become worse.
It's tempting for researchers and news outlets to interpret research like this in the most exciting way possible. "Video games cause ADHD" is a big headline, but the complex reality of the relationship between gaming and ADHD is more difficult to explain. For now, we can only guess at the true relationship between video games and ADHD.
Nicholaus Noles is a dad and avid gamer. He writes about psychology, games, and the psychology of games. Nicholaus received a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Yale University, and works as a developmental psychologist at the University of Michigan
