A NEUROSCIENCE OF CHILDREN AND MEDIA?

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

1. The terminology of the brain is technical, extensive, and sometimes confusing. Brodmann (1909/1994) labeled anatomically distinct areas of cerebral cortex with numbers now known as Brodmann Areas. Other terms refer to areas of cortex by commonly used labels. In general, this article cites regions of brain in the cerebral cortex, the highly folded outer layer of the brain. The chief exception is the amygdala, an acorn sized structure found in each hemisphere toward the front of the brain. The neurons of the cerebral cortex are richly connected not only with other cortical neurons, but with interior midbrain, including amygdala, and brainstem regions as well. Each cerebral hemisphere is divided into four lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital. Although each lobe is involved in many different psychological functions, the classic view is that the frontal lobe is broadly involved in higher cognition and emotional regulation as well as generation of behavior, the parietal lobe is involved in higher level perception and interpretation of the environment, the temporal lobe is involved with memory and language, and the occipital lobe with visual processing. There are many theories about the differences between the right and left hemisphere, but broadly speaking, the left hemisphere is involved with language processing and analytical thought, and the right hemisphere is involved with nonverbal thought and holistic processing. The interested reader is urged to consult a text on human neuroscience.

2. Note that Murray et al. (2006) found increased activation in amygdala in response to violent content viewed by children. It is not clear why different results were found. I speculate that it is due to the difference between passively observed violent content as compared to active virtual violence in video game play.