Your Pokemon Pokopia Obsession Is Backed By Science, Here's How

Without actually knowing it, Pokémon players have been altering the way their brain works from a young age.

There’s a surprising amount of brainpower needed to be a Pokémon master. From building your team to memorising the type match-ups you’ve always got something to think about whilst playing.

In Pokémon Pokopia there's arguably too much to think about. Rebuilding the civilisation of Kanto has a lot of challenges and after a while it can become quite overwhelming.

Recent studios have shown that there’s a lot more to this global phenomena than meets the eye though. In fact, if you’ve been playing Pokémon games from a young age your brain probably works differently to those who’ve never touched them.

Explaining The Science Like Pokopia’s Own Professor Tangrowth

Without going into too much detail, a Stanford study from 2019 has shown that those who played Pokémon from the Game Boy era actually grew up with a distinct compartment in their brain specifically for understanding Pokémon.

22 adults were found to take part in the study. 11 of them had grown up playing the very first Pokémon games, whereas the remaining 11 had no prior interaction or knowledge of them.

After being split into two groups all subjects were shown pictures of the original 151 Pokémon, with brain scans showing the Pokémon fans’ brains lighting up in places the non-fans’ brains weren’t.

The area of the brain which is lit up is apparently a small fold that helps you recognise shapes and faces.

Due to how many hours these kids were spending on Pokémon their brains obviously saw a lot of strange creatures, and basically reengineered this part of the brain solely for recognising and remembering Pokémon. Even the way the kids held the Game Boy played a role apparently.

It’s worth pointing out that there was nothing dangerous or concerning about this discovery. Prolonged exposure to Pokémon games hasn’t damaged your brain in any way, it’s just slightly changed how it works.

The Pokemon Company

This is because, as the study points out, the brain is an incredibly intelligent organ. It can adapt and improvise in ways we’re still discovering with science.

Basically, your compulsive desire to play Pokémon Pokopia all weekend likely stems from the way your brain fires off its signals at the mere sight of a Pokémon.

So the next time you see a Pokémon you recognise, just remember that there’s a small part of your brain that’s lighting up like a Christmas tree just looking at them. How wholesome is that?

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