Pokemon-related study reveals brain differences in fans as compared to non-fans

If you've been a fan of Pokemon since you were a kid, and are still interested in the franchise as an adult, your brain is going to look a little different than those who aren't fans. This information comes from a study published in Nature Human Behavior, and the results are pretty interesting.

The study compared a group of Pokemon fans to non-fans in order to see if there was a difference in brain patters. Fans were shown a collection of images including animals, faces, cars, words, and Pokemon. When Pokemon flashed across the screen, the brains of adult Pokemon players had a specific region light up in their brain more than the non-players. This region of the brains is called the occipitotemporal sulcus, and is usually associated with the processing of animal images.

The findings of this study help support the “eccentricity bias” theory, which suggests that the size of an image, and whether we’re looking at it with central or peripheral vision, helps predict which area of the brain will respond.