Scans show 'Pokémon area' in brains of childhood players

People who played Pokémon extensively as children have a brain region that responds to the characters more than to other pictures, scientists have found.

Researchers recruited 11 adults who were “experienced” Pokémon players, meaning they began playing between the ages of five and eight and played again as adults, and 11 people who were new to the game.

They all then underwent an MRI scan while being shown images from Pokémon.

Not only did the brains of subjects who had played as children respond more noticeably to images of the fictional creatures, but the activity recorded all occurred the same region of the brain.

Scientists say the research provides new insight into how the brain organises visual information and helps illuminate how some regions of our brain are particularly prone to repeated exposure, especially information received through vision.

The study’s first author Jesse Gomez said: “It’s been an open question in the field why we have brain regions that respond to words and faces but not to, say, cars.”

Professor Gomez reasoned that if early childhood exposure is critical for developing dedicated brain regions, then his brain, and those of other adults who played Pokémon as kids, should respond more to Pokémon characters than other kinds of stimuli.

“What was unique about Pokémon is that there are hundreds of characters, and you have to know everything about them in order to play the game successfully.

“The game rewards you for individuating hundreds of these little, similar-looking characters,” Professor Gomez said. “I figured, ‘If you don’t get a region for that, then it’s never going to happen.’”

The full report was published on Monday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.