A primary school girl in Nagasaki, Japan, who allegedly slashed the neck of her classmate with a box cutter reportedly enjoyed chatting in an Internet chat room. Sources said the girl killed the victim because she believed the victim had insulted her on the Web site.

\"Playing computer and video games for long hours hinders the function of the prefrontal cortex--the part of the brain that deals with human ability, such as creativity and reasoning,\" said Prof. Akio Mori of Nihon University College of Humanities and Science, Japan.

Mori has given a name to the condition of low activity levels in the prefrontal cortex--\"game brain.\"

Mori studied the prefrontal cortex brain waves of three people who used a Net chat room. He discovered a rise in beta waves only for the first five to 10 minutes, which later disappeared. The same results were taken from people who were writing e-mails on cell phones, reading comic books and watching cartoons.

Article continues in The Daily Yomiuri