When my child was young
Pokémon was very popular. There was the Pokémon shows, movie,
games, books and many more. Much time was spent playing with
different types of Pokémon cards. During my youth baseball was also
huge. I spent quite a bit of time outside playing baseball, watching
baseball games on television as well as listening to them on the
radio. My room was filled with magazines about baseball and so many
baseball cards I don't like to think about the money spent on them.
It seems there is a big difference between a love of baseball and a
love of Pokémon. Those who love Pokémon have a region of their
brain dedicated to it. Nobody ever accused us dedicated baseball
fans of having a region of our brain dedicated to it. We knew there
was a region of our mind and heart dedicated to it. If they would
have tried to study one of us, we would have been too busy doing
something involving baseball to participate.
Below are excerpts from
the story with my valuable insights in italics.
A partial answer comes
from recent studies in monkeys at Harvard Medical School. Researchers
there found that in order for regions dedicated to a new category of
objects to develop in the visual cortex -- the part of the brain that
processes what we see -- then exposure to those objects must start
young when the brain is particularly malleable and sensitive to a
visual experience.
I guess this makes
perfect sense. I'm sure those all-knowing Harvard Medical School
Researchers noticed these monkeys were insistent that the Pokémon
character Chimchar be part of their game. I guess this means every
time they saw a monkey they believed it to be Chimchar?
“Look, it is
Chimchar.”
“That is not a
monkey, it is the professor for this class.”
“Is the professor
named Chimchar?”
“No.”
“I bet the professor
is at least a fire Pokémon.”
“You did play that
game a lot during your youth.”
“You have no idea. I
think I'm still in my youth.”
“I believe you.”
Playing baseball at
such a young age did help me develop an ability to catch fast moving
objects, hit things with a bat and run around in circles. It's
helped with being an adult in many situations. There is being the
best hitter on the softball teams at work, running around in circles
during my job and catching fast moving objects in my apartment thrown
at me during an argument with a female I dated prior to meeting my
wife.
Once funded, Gomez
recruited adults who had played Pokémon extensively as children. He
found 11, including himself and Michael Barnett, the lab manager at
the time and a co-author on the study.
When the test subjects
were placed inside a functional MRI scanner and shown hundreds of
random Pokémon characters, their brains responded more to the images
compared to a control group who had not played the videogame as
children.
(Sarcasm Alert)
It is good to know
there is funding available for researchers at Harvard Medical School
to spend time in an MRI looking at Pokémon characters. I feel this
is profound research designed to benefit mankind since it involved
eleven people including two of the researchers. Future generations
will look back and know without any lingering doubt that parts of
their brain are dedicated to a video game they played as a child.
This will probably be the basis for these future generations to
provide a perfect society. I suppose past generations could have
been hampered by the lack of such research. If only those of us who
loved baseball could have benefited from such groundbreaking
scientific research. I'm sure it was due to a lack of funding.
The site of the brain
activations for Pokémon was also consistent across individuals. It
was located in the same anatomical structure -- a brain fold located
just behind our ears called the occipitotemporal sulcus. As best the
researchers can tell, this region typically responds to images of
animals (which Pokémon characters resemble).
It is amazing that
human brain activation was the same as individuals viewing Pokémon
characters. How interesting it is located in a section of the brain
right behind the ear. I wonder if there is a part of the brain that
is consistent with figuring out ways to get funding to spend time
with a childhood video game? It may be the same part of the brain
that tries to sell real estate in the Everglades to people with
limited understanding of geography. Maybe its the part of the brain
that helps telemarketers sell magazines to people whether they want
them or not. I'm sure this type of research will require additional
funding.
The new findings are just
the latest evidence that our brains are capable of changing in
response to experiential learning from a very early age,
Grill-Spector said, but that there are underlying constraints
hardwired into the brain that shape and guide how those changes
unfold.
Makes you wonder what
happens if a child was punished and had their Pokémon playing
privileges revoke. They may excel at playing the game after eating
all of the vegetables at dinner. Is it possible some children will
grow up to not understand Pokémon is just a game?
“I'm ready to join
the Army.”
“Are you proficient
at handling weapons, explosives and are physically fit?”
“I guess in a way.”
“What do you mean?”
“I've reached the
highest level on Pokémon and I'm one of the best at battling.”
“We have to talk.”
Below is a link to the
story
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190506163644.htm
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