Just watching the game ain't enough: striatal fMRI reward responses to successes and failures in a video game during active and vicarious playing

Abstract

Although the multimodal stimulation provided by modern audiovisual video games is pleasing by itself, the rewarding nature of video game playing depends critically also on the players' active engagement in the gameplay. The extent to which active engagement influences dopaminergic brain reward circuit responses remains unsettled. Here we show that striatal reward circuit responses elicited by successes (wins) and failures (losses) in a video game are stronger during active than vicarious gameplay. Eleven healthy males both played a competitive first-person tank shooter game (active playing) and watched a pre-recorded gameplay video (vicarious playing) while their hemodynamic brain activation was measured with 3-tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Wins and losses were paired with symmetrical monetary rewards and punishments during active and vicarious playing so that the external reward context remained identical during both conditions. Brain activation was stronger in the orbitomedial prefrontal cortex (omPFC) during winning than losing, both during active and vicarious playing. In contrast, both wins and losses suppressed activations in the midbrain and striatum during active playing; however, the striatal suppression, particularly in the anterior putamen, was more pronounced during loss than win events. Sensorimotor confounds related to joystick movements did not account for the results. Self-ratings indicated losing to be more unpleasant during active than vicarious playing. Our findings demonstrate striatum to be selectively sensitive to self-acquired rewards, in contrast to frontal components of the reward circuit that process both self-acquired and passively received rewards. We propose that the striatal responses to repeated acquisition of rewards that are contingent on game related successes contribute to the motivational pull of video-game playing.

Brain responses during strategic online gaming of varying proficiencies: Implications for better gaming

“…Competitive gaming often requires that players monitor fast‐paced and concurrent visual and auditory stimuli, using proper strategies to react quickly to competitors and their behaviors, and in doing so, individuals playing competitive games often need to react rapidly and switch flexibly between tasks while holding information in working memory (Bejjanki et al., 2014; Richlan, Schubert, Mayer, Hutzler, & Kronbichler, 2018; Wang, Zhu, Qi, Huang, & Li, 2017; West et al., 2015). Thus, this process requires the involvement of brain regions involved in multiple processing domains (e.g., visual, attention, motor control, working memory, strategic planning) (Katsyri, Hari, Ravaja, & Nummenmaa, 2013; Stockdale, Morrison, Palumbo, Garbarino, & Silton, 2017). Coordination of brain processes in these domains that span basic and higher level executive functioning may be necessary for optimizing gaming.…”

“…Consistently, competitive online gaming often requires players to coordinate sensory and motor control to accomplish their tasks and win against competitors (Anderson, Bothell, Fincham, & Moon, 2016; Sohn, Lee, Kwak, Yoon, & Kwon, 2017). Brain regions, such as the cerebellum (involved in processing automatic or highly learned motoric behaviors and coordinating control), the thalamus (a neurocircuitry hub coordinating auditory, visual, and somatosensory functions), and the brain stem (with ascending and descending pathways involved in sensory and motoric processes), have been implicated in sensory and motor processes and their coordination (Katsyri et al., 2013; Koepp et al., 1998). In the current study, we hypothesized that good gaming would engage sensory‐ and motor‐control‐related brain regions (e.g., occipital cortex and pre and postcentral gyral regions, respectively) and those involved in coordinating their functions (e.g., the thalamus).…”

“…People, particularly males, often enjoy gaming, finding it interesting and motivating, and these features may be related to striatal dopamine release (Katsyri et al., 2013; Koepp et al., 1998). The successful achievement of specific gaming goals (e.g., eliminating one's opponents or avoiding getting eliminated oneself) may trigger positive emotions (Nummenmaa & Niemi, 2004), which may be related to dopamine release (Koepp et al., 1998) and hemodynamic activations in the striatum (Hoeft, Watson, Kesler, Bettinger, & Reiss, 2008; Katsyri et al., 2013).…”

“…The successful achievement of specific gaming goals (e.g., eliminating one's opponents or avoiding getting eliminated oneself) may trigger positive emotions (Nummenmaa & Niemi, 2004), which may be related to dopamine release (Koepp et al., 1998) and hemodynamic activations in the striatum (Hoeft, Watson, Kesler, Bettinger, & Reiss, 2008; Katsyri et al., 2013). Neuroimaging studies suggest that gaming engages key motivational systems of the brain (Katsyri et al., 2013). …”

“…In a recent imaging study involving subjects scanned before and after substantial gaming practice, better players showed greater activation in the right dorsal striatum (Anderson et al., 2016). Another study demonstrated selective striatal sensitivity to self‐acquired rewards, with striatal responses to repeated acquisition of rewards contingent on game‐related successes contributing to the motivational aspects of gaming (Katsyri et al., 2013). Good players should have strong motivations to win, and at the same time, they should have well coordinated motor and sensory systems.…”