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Brain development

How Pokémon helped to explain brain differences

Nature Reviews Psychology volume 4, page 621 (2025)Cite this article

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When I started out in neuroscience, I wanted answers to complex yet straightforward questions, such as how early childhood experiences shape human brains or why some children thrive while others struggle. Early on, I found myself drawn to these social and developmental puzzles, yet I quickly realized that science rarely handed me answers at the speed of my curiosity. But some papers, such as the article published in 2019 by Gomez and colleagues, are reminders of why foundational research matters, how much can be learned from careful design (even with small samples), and why communicating differences in brain science needs care, humility and nuance.

Gomez and colleagues’ article takes an elegant approach to a singular question. The authors asked what happens in the brains of adults who spent thousands of childhood hours playing Pokémon. The study recruited 22 adults in two groups: one group that played Pokémon extensively as kids and one that barely touched the game. Then, the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity as both groups viewed images of Pokémon and other objects. The group that played Pokémon showed a distinct patch of visual cortex that lit up for Pokémon images — a neural signature that the other group did not have.

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References

Original article

  • Gomez, J., Barnett, M. & Grill-Spector, K. Extensive childhood experience with Pokémon suggests eccentricity drives organization of visual cortex. Nat. Hum. Behav. 3, 611–624 (2019)

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  1. Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Gabriel Reyes

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  1. Gabriel Reyes
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Correspondence to Gabriel Reyes.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Reyes, G. How Pokémon helped to explain brain differences. Nat Rev Psychol 4, 621 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-025-00485-3

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