Most science reporting these days has about as much respectability as a tabloid gossip column. Unfortunately, the general public is all too eager to believe scare tactics or trumped up claims, whether it is claims that vaccines cause autism (they do not) or claims that scientists may have cured HIV (they have not).

Studies on the effects of video games are perhaps more sensationalized than most, especially when it comes to the mental wellbeing of players, and a recent study has been making the media rounds with headlines like “Call of Duty increases risk of Alzheimer’s disease” or “Could video games increase your risk of Alzheimer’s?”

According to Chris Chambers, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the school of psychology at Cardiff University, the study these articles point to not only says no such thing, but its premise is totally flawed.

“They didn’t find this at all”

“As usual, the news headlines conflate this conjecture with fact,” Chambers wrote in an article for The Guardian. He added, “We know that when science news is hyped, most of the hype is already present in the press releases issued by universities. This case is no exception.”

The press release in question, announcing the results of a study by the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, quotes Dr. Gregory West as saying, “We also found that gamers rely on the caudate-nucleus to a greater degree than non-gamers. … People who spend a lot of time playing video games may have reduced hippocampal integrity, which is associated with an increased risk of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.”

That statement contains a lot of “may,” yet that did not stop many publications from drawing their own conclusions. Chambers also argues that West’s statement is itself “a clear exaggeration.”

“Actually they didn’t find this at all, because their study didn’t measure activity in the caudate nucleus,” Chambers wrote. “Instead it measured a type of behaviour that previous studies have associated with activity in the caudate nucleus. There is a world of difference between these two, and readers would do well to take these latest claims with a generous helping of salt.”

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