Computer games 'scramble young minds'

Children under seven should be banned from playing computer games because it could damage their attention span, it has been claimed.

The rapid pace of computer games is only stimulating basic "fight or flight" sections of the brain rather than parts responsible for higher reasoning, educational psychologist claims. As a result, she believes children's brains are now developing differently and that games can be linked to a rise in the diagnosis of attention-deficit disorder in children.

Jane Healy spoke of her fears at a seminar discussing the effect of technology on children held at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

She said most children should be kept away from computer games until they are at least seven and their brains have had time to develop.

"If you watch kids on a computer, most of them are just hitting keys or moving the mouse as fast as they can. It really reminds me of rats running in a maze," she said.

Researchers from the Joan Ganz Cooney Centre, which aims to investigate links between new technology and learning, said the average age that children in the United States had begun to use electronic gadgets has come down from just over eight to just over six and a half since 2005.

The researchers examined more than 300 products, including computer games, toys, virtual games for children and learning programmes to be run on home computers.

They found that too many left children sitting isolated in front of a screen. Other products made unsubstantiated claims about their educational benefits.

A survey for the computer giant Microsoft last month found more than three quarters of parents in the UK were concerned about the content in computer games, but most thought they had little influence or say over what kind of games their children played.