Video game used to test fear

Playing video games is fun, but what happens when you’re on the receiving end of an electric shock whenever you lose to the computer? British researchers have been doing just that in order to study how the human brain reacts to imminent danger, where gamers played a game that requires you to run away from red dots. Upon being caught, the gamer will receive a mild electric shock. The study has shown that whenever the predator stood a comfortable distance away, most blood flowed strongly to the prefrontal cortex in the forebrain, and whenever it moved near, blood flow will be redirected to the midbrain – the area that controls reflexes like fighting or fleeing. All this brain talk makes me remember, I’ve got to fire up my Brain Age 2 for more brain training!