A new look at the cognitive neuroscience of video game play

Abstract

A growing body of literature has investigated the effects of playing video games on brain function and behavior. One key takeaway from this literature has been that not all entertainment video games are created equal with respect to their effects on cognitive functioning. The majority of the research to date has contrasted the cognitive impact of playing first‐ or third‐person shooter games (together dubbed “action video games”) against the effects of playing other game types. Indeed, when the research began in the late 1990s, action video games placed a load upon the perceptual, attentional, and cognitive systems in a manner not seen in other video games. However, the video game industry has shifted dramatically over the intervening years. In particular, first‐ and third‐person shooter games are no longer unique in the extent to which they load upon cognitive abilities. Instead, a host of other game genres appear to place similar degrees of load upon these systems. This state of affairs calls for a paradigm shift in the way that the cognitive neuroscience field examines the impact of video game play on cognitive skills and their neural mediators—a shift that is only just now slowly occurring.

Perceptual, Attentional, and Executive Functioning After Real-Time Strategy Video Game Training: Efficacy and Relation to In-Game Behavior

“…In conclusion, our study contributes to the literature on video game training by: (1) demonstrating the efficacy of improving cognitive functioning through training in a real-time strategy video game, (2) showing that improvement in cognitive functioning can be related to specific in-game performance changes, and (3) experimentally inducing greater cognitive improvement in one of two groups by manipulating the gameplay experience. These results not only demonstrate that playing real-time strategy video games can lead to similar cognitive advantages as those found in previous studies but also supplement the growing notion (Bediou et al, 2018;Dale et al, 2020) that a more fine-grained approach is needed to properly study the rapidly evolving field of video games and how they affect cognition. More (and higher quality) experimental evidence is needed before any definitive conclusions can be drawn regarding the impact of real-time strategy games like StarCraft II on cognitive ability.…”

Comparison of Reaction Time Between eSports Players of Different Genres and Sportsmen

“…Previous studies on video game reaction times selected players based primarily upon their selfreported play time or experience via questionnaires. Players often overestimate or underestimate their gaming behavior or play different games (for an overview regarding self-reported game time via questionnaires see Dale et al, 2020). The present paper is one of the first studies which compares gamers and their actual observed performance level in different games.…”

“…Studies have repeatedly shown that especially players of action video games, like FPS or Fighting Games, have shorter reaction times than non-gamers (Dye et al, 2009). Playing action video games is linked with enhanced attentional abilities (Dale et al, 2020), better visual searching (Wu & Spence, 2013), oculomotor abilities (Chisholm & Kingstone, 2012), and distribute visual attention over space (Qiu et al, 2018). It is therefore not surprising that especially FPS players had the shortest average reaction times in two tests.…”

“…Apart from action video games mentioned above, there is very little research available on cognitive abilities of players from different game genres. The strict classification as action video games and non-action video games of about 15 years ago is no longer appropriate today, as many other and new game genres have adopted features from action video games and vice versa (Dale et al, 2020). Important abilities for quick reactions like attentional capabilities or visual search strategies are also important in games like MOBAs or sports simulations.…”

Vision Therapy: Ocular Motor Training in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

“…This could include not only standard but also novel approaches. For example, recent reviews detail the mounting evidence that video games can improve attention and spatial cognition, [96][97][98] and these have been applied recently to the study of patients with traumatic brain injury. 99 It would be of interest to see how the efficacy and compliance rates of these various approaches compare in the clinical setting.…”