Persistent Firing, the Entorhinal Cortex, and Neurodegenerative Illnesses

On March 24th, 2020, Carmen Lin (ABD) presented on her study that drew inspiration from the article by Tahvildari et al., “Switching Between ‘On’ and ‘Off’ States of Persistent Activity In Lateral Entorhinal Layer III Neurons.” This article explains how steady activity in the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC), part of the hippocampal system, allows neurons to encode and maintain information for short-term memory (working memory). Alternating between “on” and “off” states of persistent neuronal activity, which the researchers discovered was capable of being regulated, may be a mechanism to regulate memory function. They were able to induce and terminate persistent firing.

In her research, Lin built on the significance of persistent firing from the layer III of the LEC, suggesting that the persistent firing could be used to help install the conditioned stimulus in mice during trace eyeblink conditioning, which measures associative learning. Through comparing young mice (3-6 months) and aged mice (26-32 months), she found that persistent firing decreased as age increased, but the firing increased as learning increased. Lin explained how this suggested that the firing rate may contribute the memory and learning impairments that the aged mice displayed.

With a new understanding that persistent firing could be controlled and that aging was connected to persistent firing, I wondered if the knowledge could be applied to Alzheimer’s Disease, a seemingly ubiquitous age-related health condition that negatively affects working memory. With the ability to induce and terminate persistent spiking, the function or short-term memory and consolidation of long-term memory could result. Furthermore, the newfound control reminded me of treatments such as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which have shown to be helpful in neurodegenerative illnesses. Perhaps stimulation inspired by the conditions of this study could be utilized in the human brain.

The exciting possibility is also suggested in the article “Memories Retrieved in Mutant ‘Alzheimer’s’ Mice.” Consider an experiment led by the neuroscientist Susumu Tonegawa et al. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology:

 

The researchers engineered the mutant mice to make a light-sensitive protein in neurons in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that encodes short-term memories. Then the scientists placed the mice back into the box, shining a light onto the animals' brains to force the modified neurons to fire. This caused the mice to recall the memory of being shocked, and the animals froze—suggesting that the memory had been encoded in the first place. But the next day, the mice had again forgotten their fear of the box (Reardon). 

Toonegawa et al. found that the stimulation successfully created neural connections between the hippocampus and the LEC. Although the experiment utilized optogenetics, which currently cannot stimulate human brains, Columbia University neurobiologist Christine Denny predicts that “electrical stimulation may succeed where optogenetics has not. Early trials suggest that deep-brain stimulation of the hippocampus prompts the creation of neurons and improves memory in some Alzheimer’s patients” (Reardon). As of now, no one knows how to do so, but given the growth of research surrounding the topic, perhaps a long-lasting treatment for Alzheimer’s is within our reach.

Reardon, Sara. “Memories Retrieved in Mutant ‘Alzheimer's’ Mice.” Scientific American,
Scientific American, 17 Mar. 2016, www.scientificamerican.com/article/memories-retrieved-in-mutant-alzheimer-s-mice/.


Tahvildari, Babak, et al. “Switching between ‘On’ and ‘Off’ States of Persistent Activity in Lateral Entorhinal Layer III Neurons.” Hippocampus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2007, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17315198.

Violent Eyes: How Exposure to Violence Can Have an Effect on Behavior

Violence is something that is bound to be exposed to all people, no matter the format. Be it in real life, a movie, a video game or a book, there will be at least one exposure to violence. The question that matters with this violence is how it will affect a person’s behavior and attitude once they witness it. There has been much debate and study that the violence makes a person more apathetic or more violent, while others say that it does no such thing and that these behaviors are either speculation or due to something else.

One example of violence having an influence on behavior is an article called “Emotionally anesthetized: Media violence induces neural changes during emotional face processing.” By Stockdale and colleagues. The main focus of the research is to see how violence in video games affects a person’s ability to recognize a facial expressions and the emotions that come with it. The experiment had people exposed to a violent clip and then asked to identify facial expressions as either fearful or happy, and to guess the gender of the face as well. The research found that participants were slower to assess the facial expression and fearful, and that it took longer for participants to identify the face as female. These results became especially apparent when the participant was exposed to the violent clip, and there were EEG recordings that showed that certain brain areas were active when observing violence and contributed to this time lag. This lends evidence to the statement that exposure to violent video games does affect behavior and empathetic levels since there was more difficulty when trying to determine an expression that should be considered easy and requires certain empathetic levels to recognize.

Another article that talks about media violence is “Effects of cartoon violence on aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors.” By Zhang and colleagues. This article focuses on how cartoon violence and exposure affects thoughts and behaviors of adolescence. The experiment consisted of showing children age 10 a cartoon that showed either violent behavior (but still appropriate for a children show) or no violence, but rather friendship and bonding. They then performed a variety of tasks that had comparisons between violent and nonviolent cues, such as a Stroop test with violent vs nonviolent words, a questionnaire, and more. The results show that children who watched the violent cartoon were more inclined to choose the violent or aggressive behaviors in a task compared to the children who watched the nonviolent cartoons. They also saw that these aggression levels were higher for males than for females. This is more evidence that violence exposure affects behavior since there was a notable difference between the attitudes of the children.

However, not all hope is lost when it comes to these behaviors. An article that shows the effects of violence and behavior, specifically amongst gender bias, is called “Architects of Their Own Brain….” By Racionero-Plaza and colleagues. This article focuses on the psychological aspect of social violence and how that affects teen gender violence. This experiment was conducted differently than the previous two, with the methods being engagement and dialogue with the teens included in the study paired with counseling and then seeing how their behaviors changed over a period of time. They found that active awareness and consideration of teens behaviors, especially in males, makes them reduce their violent behavior and improve their personal lives. This article does not lean towards any side of the debate, it does show that the effects of violence and behavior are not irreversible.

One final article that I will mention is “Long-time exposure to violent video games does not show desensitization on empathy for pain: An fMRI Study” by Gao and colleagues. Their research shows that exposure to violent video games does not have an effect on a person’s ability to empathize on painful situations and show that violence exposure does not affect apathetic levels in a person. Their experiment was conducted by taking fMRI images of brain activity in participants while they were seeing photos of either a person in a painful situation or in a nonpainful situation. These participants were also in two categories: gamers and non-gamers. The results were that there were no difference in empathy levels when comparing the two groups of participants, and that there were no areas of the brain that showed that there was a desensitization when it comes to violence exposure. This contradicts other studies saying that violence does have an effect, but there are also other studies that support that it does not affect it. 

Noting these four studies, it is apparent that there is no black and white to this subject of violence and behavior. It is a gray area that leaves much room for study and analysis. I believe though, that these studies are not necessarily able to be generalized to big populations just yet, since different people can have different reactions and behaviors no matter what the situation or violence exposure they have had. Hopefully with more research, this gray area can become more defined, and we can learn more about behavioral influences in general.

Reference List

Gao, X., Pan, W., Li, C., Weng, L., Yao, M., & Chen, A. (2017). Long-time exposure to violent video games does not show desensitization on empathy for pain: An fMRI Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(MAY), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00650

Racionero-Plaza, S., Ugalde, L., Merodio, G., & Gutiérrez-Fernández, N. (2020). “Architects of Their Own Brain.” Social Impact of an Intervention Study for the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in Adolescence. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(February), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03070

Stockdale, L. A., Morrison, R. G., Kmiecik, M. J., Garbarino, J., & Silton, R. L. (2015). Emotionally anesthetized: Media violence induces neural changes during emotional face processing. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10(10), 1373–1382. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv025

Zhang, Q., Cao, Y., Gao, J. Y., Yang, X., Rost, D. H., Cheng, G., Teng, Z. J., & Espelage, D. L. (2019). Effects of cartoon violence on aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors. Aggressive Behavior, 45(5), 489–497. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21836

Is There a Link Between Murder and Violent Video Games?

Is There A Link Between Murder and Violent Video Games?

            For years, there has been a debate over the phycological effects of violent video games on young children and adolescents. Scientists have studied this topic for decades, even as early as 1961 when Albert Bandura conducted his BoBo Clown Experiment. In this experiment, Bandura tested how children would treat a BoBo Clown inflatable toy when exposed to violent behavior in comparison to no prior engagement or knowledge of the toy. His study showed that children did react violently to the toy after witnessing an adult act violently. Moving into the modern age, this topic is now further discussed to see whether or not playing violent videogames will increase levels of aggression in children. 

            Dr. Laura Stockdale’s, Cool, Callous and in Control: Superior Inhibitory Control in Frequent Players of Video Games with Violent Content, research focused on response inhibition and how levels of empathy correlates to this when comparing frequent and infrequent players of violent videogames. Using electroencephalography, she was able to monitor brain activity during stop-signal tasks to collect her data. It was concluded that frequent players of violent video games had lower levels of empathy and a reduction in brain activity when compared to infrequent players. The data showed a reduced N200/P300 amplitude during the task, which means there were less neural resources recruited to inhibit the behavior of the frequent player. Dr. Stockdale’s research shows that frequent players of violent video games do in fact have a decrease in empathetic responses and have a reduced ability to inhibit certain behaviors. 

An article from CrimeLibrary discussed a real-life case where Dr. Stockdale’s research can be applied. Daniel Petric, a sixteen-year-old from Ohio, murdered his mother and attempted to kill his father over a video game. Petric had recently been in an accident, which caused him to be bed ridden for months, only able to watch TV and play video games. His parents noticed an increased obsession with the video game Halo 3 and decided to confiscate the device from their son. The article includes an eyewitness account from Daniel’s father, Mark Petric, who says “[Daniel] walked in and said, ‘would you guys close your eyes, I have a surprise for you.’”. Daniel then fatally shot his mother and seriously wounded his father in an attempt to get his game back. Daniel was sentenced to 23 years behind bars because of his actions. Petric’s lawyers explained during the trial that their client had been under a large amount of stress during this time and used the video games to cope. This begs the question, did playing these violent games lead to murder?

            Daniel Petric’s case relates to the findings of Dr. Stockdale’s research because of his obsession with the violent video game, Halo 3. If we were to apply Dr. Stockdale’s research methods, I would expect for Petric to also show a decrease in empathy levels and inhibitory control due to his frequent playing of Halo 3. Petric is just another example of how violent video games are affecting the minds of young people. 

References

“Daniel Petric Teen Killer Murders Mother Over Video Game.” My Crime Library, 17 Jan. 2020, https://mycrimelibrary.com/daniel-petric-teen-killer/

Stockdale, Laura, et al. “Cool, Callous and in Control: Superior Inhibitory Control in Frequent Players of Video Games with Violent Content.” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol. 12, no. 12, 2017, pp. 1869–1880., doi:10.1093/scan/nsx115.

Influence of Sex Differences on Aggression

            On April 21, Dr. Laura Stockdale presented her research on the effect of media violence on behavior and emotional processing. Her goal was to determine the difference in neural activity pertaining to empathy in frequent vs infrequent violent video games players through a self-report measure as well as a stop-signal task with EEG. She hypothesized that frequent game players would be less empathetic, desensitized to affective stimuli, and recruit less neural resources during response inhibition. During the stop-signal task, she measured P100 (automatic processing), N170 (facial processing), and P200 (implicit emotional processing) amplitudes. The result of these measurements supported her hypotheses. In her presentation, she noted that frequent games players showed the same response inhibition as infrequent game players, but they required much less effort to do so. Dr. Stockdale is currently working on a longitudinal study for aggressive behavior and wants to fully understand the effect that media violence has on people.

            After listening to this presentation, I was very curious about whether or not there is any research indicating that aggressive behavior is sex-dependent. Dr. Stockdale noted that she realized she needed to include all male participants, as the overwhelming majority of her frequent game players were male. I decided to search for an article on sex-related difference in aggression.

            In the article “Assessment of Gender Differences on Aggressive Behavior among Undergraduates of Benue State University Makurdi, Nigeria,” the researchers aimed to determine if there was an influence of gender difference on aggression. They conducted a survey that included 150 participants from Benue State University, of which 73 were male and 77 were female. In the introduction, they included various articles that have examined this before and found a statistical difference in aggression between genders, and this was the basis of their study. Not only did these researchers survey physical aggression, but they also surveyed verbal aggression as well as anger levels. I think this was a really smart decision because it results in a more holistic view of the research question, as “aggression” can manifest in many different ways. Their research concluded that there was a statistically significant difference in physical and verbal aggression between males and females, but no statistically significant difference in anger levels. Males were more physically aggressive than females, while females were more verbally aggressive than males. I believe this has a lot of implications for how our environment and culture affects us.

            I think this article is one in a long line of studies that will be helpful in determining social, cultural, and biological differences in males and females that contribute to aggression. I also think it would be really interesting for Dr. Stockdale to use this information in one of her studies, and I would like to see what differences between frequent and infrequent game players arise if all participants are female. I am interested to see what results she obtains in her longitudinal study, if there will be any significant sex-dependent differences, and how we will use that research in sociocultural definitions and explanations.

Stockdale, L., Morrison, R. G., Palumbo, R., Garbarino, J., & Silton, R. L. (2017). Cool, callous and in control: superior inhibitory control in frequent players of video games with violent content. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 12(12), 1869-1880.

Mohammed, K., Tavershima, I. T., & Saanyol, D. B. (2018). Assessment of Gender Differences on Aggressive Behaviour among Undergraduates of Benue State University Makurdi, Nigeria. International Journal of Education and Evaluation, 4(6), 43-51.

Superhero Culture and Behavior of Children

Laura Stockdale, a researcher studying media violence exposure and behavior, published the paper entitled, “Emotionally anesthetized: media violence induces neural changes during emotional face processing”. The paper details the analysis of the response and processing of emotional faces after watching violent or nonviolent videos using reaction time and EEG readings of brain regions involved in processing facial emotions. Stockdale et. al were able to prove that exposure to violent videos decreased sensitization to emotion and face processing. After her research with adults knowing that exposure to violent media can affect behavior and processing, Stockdale set her sights on researching childhood development and violent media. Now she is leading her newest research called Project M.E.D.I.A. which serves to discover the effect of media violence exposure on the development of children.

Media violence that young children may be exposed to includes video games, TV or movies with aggressive behavior, especially superhero movies. Stockdale claims that exposing children to superheroes too early in their development only increases physical aggression and not prosocial behavior. In the article titled, “Superhero culture magnifies aggressive, but not defending behaviors” Science Daily explains this phenomenon by sourcing a project that Stockdale also worked on at Brigham Young University. The lead researcher, Sarah Coyne, found that children exposed to or involved in superhero culture are more aggressive behaviorally within a year. In a world where superheroes are often regarded as the best role models where kids can’t wait to dress up like them, buy toy replicas of their shields or hammers and act out their favorite superhero scenes parents must reconsider if their kids are getting the right message. When kids have superhero dreams at an age when they cannot process the wider moral message beyond the fighting it is just encouraging aggressive and negative behavior. Coyne understands the difficulty in preventing superhero exposure to preschool age children, she says even her own three-year-old idolizes Spiderman despite never having seen a movie. She adds that it is important to have balance with exposure to superhero culture.  When children choose a superhero role model to help the child understand the positives and prosocial nature of the hero.

With parents and children stuck inside for all hours of the day with COVID quarantining it is important now more than ever for parents to consider the media they exposure their children to. While it may be easy to put a three-year-old in front of a Marvel movie, those consistent exposures will only construe the wrong message to that child. Laura Stockdale’s Project M.E.D.I.A. research hopes to provide more research about the effect that different media has on children during development. That research may help parents have a better grasp as to what is helping or hurting their child’s development and when to show them those wildly popular superhero movies.

This research also begs new questions about superhero culture and the effect it has on not only children, but all of society. During Stockdale’s presentation Dr. Morrison also pointed out that certain products, like Apple, only allow their products to be used by the heroes, or “good guys” of movies. It would be interesting to see at what point of development children are influenced by product placements like that. Clearly the aggression influences them, but does the products used also influence them? With media all around children it is vital to study the effects it has on their psychology and development.

Brigham Young University. "Superhero culture magnifies aggressive, not defending behaviors." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 January 2017. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170111131122.htm

Stockdale, Laura A., Robert G. Morrison, Matthew J. Kmiecik, James Garbarino, and Rebecca L. Silton. "Emotionally anesthetized: media violence induces neural changes during emotional face processing." Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 10.10 (2015): 1373-1382.

Violence Through Media-Silent Killer

Violence Through Media-Silent Killer

            Within our community, waking up to devastating news about gun violence has become a norm. Today, it is nearly impossible to not be exposed to violence shown through media. Media violence is presented in various ways through movies, shows, and even ads on your phone while you are playing another game. Recently, there have been many cases in which police officers have found the one’s causing violence to be interested in violent video games and violent media, therefore correlating violent video games with their actions. While it makes to correlate violent media to the actions of individuals, “the short answer is there is virtually no research on whether or not video games cause violent acts like school shootings” (Ducharme).

In the Time article, “Trump Blames Video Games for School Shooting. Here’s What Science Says”, Jamie Ducharme explains that after the Sandy Hook shooting, President Donald Trump met with members of Congress “to discuss violent video-game exposure and the correlation to aggression and desensitization in children” (Ducharme). Jamie Ducharme mentions individuals would have a sense of relief if they were able to find out the cause of school shootings, but there are many factors such as the environment they were brought up in, their individual beliefs, and what the society has taught them. Within Ducharme’s article, Brad Bushman researched the correlation between screen violence and aggressive behavior. Bushman raises a question in which he asks “if [an] [individual] wanted to fly an airplane [,] what would be the best thing to do: read a book about it, watch a TV program…, or play a flight simulator video game” (Ducharme)? In video games, you are learning how to precisely kill others, but on top of that, majority of the times, players are rewarded “through points, game advancement, or verbal affirmation” (Ducharme).

In the article, "Cool, callous and in control: superior inhibitory control in frequent players of video games with violent content", written by Laura Stockdale and her fellow colleagues, discuss how media violence influenced aggressive behavior and a decrease in empathy in frequent and non-frequent players. University students “were classified as frequent players of games of graphically violent video games if they played 30 or more hours of video games per week” (Stockdale 1872) and they were considered infrequent players “if they played no more than 5 hours per week” (Stockdale 1872). The participants were given a questionnaire measuring their empathy. Through their research, their results showed "frequent players had reduced N200/P300 amplitude during inhibition, indicating less neural resources were recruited to inhibit behavior" (Stockdale 1). Through their results, individuals significantly exposed to violent media are usually less empathetic than those who are not exposed to violent media as much. The evidence displayed through Stockdale's research supports Ducharme's views "that playing violent video games can cause an increase in aggressive thoughts and actions, a decrease in empathy and desensitization to violence" (Ducharme). 

In Dr. Stockdale’s lecture, she mentioned the Bobo Doll experiment. The experiment began with an adult beating an inflatable doll and there was a child watching her. After the child observed the adult, the child was taken to a room with various toys which were taken away. The only toy available was the Bobo doll. Due to the frustration and aggression that was built up, the child began beating the doll, just like the adult he had observed. Whereas in another situation, a child had observed an adult playing with the doll nicely, therefore did not beat the doll when they had a built-up aggression. Similarly, I believe learning can occur through observing and imitating someone else’s behavior. After associating oneself with a large amount of media violence, they will begin to adopt the foul languages, negative attitudes, and physical violence presented in video games, social media, and movies, therefore reducing their empathy towards others.

Citations: 

Ducharme, Jamie. "Donald Trump Blames Video Games for School Shootings." Time, Time, 

12 March 2018. time.com/5191182/trump-video-games-violence/.

Stockdale, Laura, et al. "Cool, Callous and in Control: Superior Inhibitory Control in Frequent
Players of Video Games with Violent Content." Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience,
vol 12, no. 12, April 2017, pp 1869-1880. 

Stockdale, Laura, et al. "Emotionally Anesthetized Media Violence Induces Neural Changes
during Emotional Face Processing." Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol 10, no.
10, September 2015, pp 1-10. 

Violence and Video Games

Violence and Videogames

Dr. Laura Stockdale seeks to investigate the effects that violence in media, particularly in videogames, have on the levels of empathy in frequent vs. nonfrequent players. Her study measures implicit attention to emotion, which is measured by P100 and N200/P300 brain activity. High P100 amplitudes indicate significant attention to others’ facial expressions, revealing possible correlation to empathy. The N200/P300 brain levels reveal the amount of neural resources activated when faced with affective distractors (like the facial expressions of others). Dr. Stockdale hypothesized that frequent gamers would have low P100 levels and N200/P300 brain levels.

Dr. Stockdale’s hypotheses proved correct in that low P100 levels were observed, indicating a lack of empathy from frequent videogame players towards happy facial expressions. Also, low amplitudes were observed in the N200/P300 measurements of constant gamers, which reveal almost an anesthetic to neural networks required to indicate empathy. Yet, it leads one to question what is the generalizability of this test into the real world? I personally play many first-person shooter games on nearly a daily basis and still consider myself a very empathetic person. It seems pretty frequent to hear of video games being detrimental to those who play it, yet what about studies indicating possible benefits?

            Dr. Emiliano Santarnecchi, a former Counter-Strike (first-person shooter videogame) fanatic, is now the assistant professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and he seeks to show proof of the benefits first person shooter games have on the cognition of frequent video gamers. He created a longitudinal study where participants would receive an MRI scan before playing Counter strike and then immediately after. After 3 months, the scans indicated thickness in specific areas like the sensory cortex, parahippocampal place area, and our left lingual gyrus, which basically means the strengthening of areas of the brain responsible for proprioception and decision making. He even conducted a study with three groups of surgeons over five weeks to test how videogames can increase their performance on a surgery simulator. The group that played the first-person shooter game performed the best on the test.

            It appears that much research still needs to be done to test the total effect videogames have on their fans. Dr. Stockdale definitely sheds light on the effect videogames have in dulling our emotions, yet could confounding variables like cultural and sociological factors also play a role in this research? For instance, Japan is a video gamer paradise but has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, while the United States is engulfed with gun violence, so I believe the issue could be attributed more so to sociological factors.

References

Pinchefsky, Carol. “Video Games May Enhance Skills Beyond a Superb Double Jump.”

BrainFacts.org, 6 Feb. 2019, www.brainfacts.org/neuroscience-in-society/tech-and-the-brain/2019/video-games-may-enhance-skills-beyong-a-superb-double-jump-020619.

Stockdale, Laura A., et al. “Emotionally Anesthetized: Media Violence Induces Neural Changes

during Emotional Face Processing.” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol.

10, no. 10, Sept. 2015, pp. 1373–1382., doi:10.1093/scan/nsv025.

Online Article: https://www.brainfacts.org/neuroscience-in-society/tech-and-the-brain/2019/video-games-may-enhance-skills-beyond-a-superb-double-jump-020619

Dr. Stockdale’s Article: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hdluh1vfs2cphhz/AADh1d3KFXR-ZhKBCLY9-dSba/(04.21.20)%20-%20Laura%20Stockdale?dl=0&preview=Stockdale_etal_2017_SCAN.pdf&subfolder_nav_tracking=1