A new video game is helping researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health investigate the link between the hippocampus and depression. The game tests subjects' spatial memory--that is, how objects are oriented in space and how to get to them. The researchers found that depressed patients performed more poorly on the test than non-depressed patients, indicated that something was amiss with their hippocampi. Playing the game engaged areas of the hippocampus that previous tests did not, and therefore may become a valuable tool in detecting hippocampus dysfunction in depressed patients.
Why is that important? You'd have to ask someone who has way more initials after their name than I do, but I'm down with anything that helps us gain a better understanding of how our brains work. Because the three-dimensional video game performs so much better than the two-dimensional test previously used in such studies, it's possible that it may become a regular part of the diagnostic regimen used on folks suffering from depression. Hooray for science!
Virtual Reality Video Game Helps Link Depression to Specific Brain Area [NIMH]
