A new medical study, using MRI technology to measure brain activity shows that there appears to be a definite link between aberrant and negative behavior in teens and their playing of violent video games.

The results were made public this week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. The results of the MRI data revealed that violent video games alter brain activity by decreasing those areas of the brain responsible for inhibiting violent activity while at the same time increasing the areas of the brain used for emotional arousal.

The study used two separate groups of children between the ages of 13 to 17. All involved had no previously documented behavioral problems. The standard applied included first exposing the teens to a non-violent game and using their brain response as a baseline. Then, the teens were told to play the violent video game with the above results gained. The implication from these controlled studies is that teens given frequent exposure to violent video games may develop difficulty controlling violent emotional tendancies after getting deeply involved with a violent game.

“Our study suggests that playing a certain type of violent videogame may have different short-term effects on brain function than playing a nonviolent, but exciting game,” Dr. Vincent P. Mathews, professor of radiology at Indiana U. School of Medicine in Indianapolis and lead author of the study, said in a statement.

Researchers used the video game “Need for Speed: Underground” for their non-violent baseline results and followed-up with the very violent and graphic “Medal of Honor: Frontline.”

This new data may give parental groups and governmental bodies the information they have been seeking to begin clamping down on the video game industry and put tougher restrictions on the sale of such material to children under 18 years of age. To-date several courts have struck down the attempts to curtail violent gaming activity because the evidence simply was not available. That could change now as a result of this in-depth medical research study.

The response from the gaming industry was swift. “Dr. Mathews and his associate have conducted similar studies in the past,” said Sean Bersell, VP of public affairs for the Entertainment Merchants Assn. “The advocates of videogame restrictions have presented these studies as ‘evidence’ of the harmful effects of videogames. The courts have rejected these studies.”

This battle is far from over and with newer technologies such as PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and Virtual CT (Computed Tomography) to add more ammuntion to the fight against them, the $13 billion dollar video gaming industry may begin to find themselves on a steep uphill climb to continue their justification for sale to those under 18-years of age with such material.