The neural basis of video gaming

Abstract

Video game playing is a frequent recreational activity. Previous studies have reported an involvement of dopamine-related ventral striatum. However, structural brain correlates of video game playing have not been investigated. On magnetic resonance imaging scans of 154 14-year-olds, we computed voxel-based morphometry to explore differences between frequent and infrequent video game players. Moreover, we assessed the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task during functional magnetic resonance imaging and the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT). We found higher left striatal grey matter volume when comparing frequent against infrequent video game players that was negatively correlated with deliberation time in CGT. Within the same region, we found an activity difference in MID task: frequent compared with infrequent video game players showed enhanced activity during feedback of loss compared with no loss. This activity was likewise negatively correlated with deliberation time. The association of video game playing with higher left ventral striatum volume could reflect altered reward processing and represent adaptive neural plasticity.

Playing Super Mario induces structural brain plasticity: gray matter changes resulting from training with a commercial video game

“…We found more gray matter (GM) volume in the left ventral striatum for frequent (49 h per week) compared with infrequent video gamers (o9 h per week). 5,9 In another crosssectional study on male adults, we observed a positive association between bilateral hippocampal formation (HC), in particular in entorhinal cortex, as well as occipital cortex, with the cumulative amount of video game hours over the lifetime. 6,10 Interestingly, the higher GM volume within the entorhinal cortex was significantly predicted by the game category gamers were primarily interested in.…”

Internet gaming disorder and the DSM‐5

“…Brain imagining studies have been conducted, but they similarly used different methods of classifying subjects and applied different tasks; they also revealed different areas of activation (e.g. [17,18]). …”

Habitual action video game playing is associated with caudate nucleus-dependent navigational strategies

“…For example, when recording functional brain activity during the Monetary Incentive Delay task, researchers found that adolescents who engaged in increased video game playing had increased activity in the left ventral striatum when given feedback stating a loss of income [12]. Dopamine release in the ventral striatum was also shown to be associated with increased video game performance [39].…”

“…Increased striatal volume and activity are also associated with decreased volume and activity in the hippocampus [17,18]. The striatum, which is significantly larger in video game players (VGPs) [11,12], shares an inverse relationship with the hippocampus [16,19]. In contrast to the striatum's critical role in response learning and memory, and habit formation by making rigid stimulus-response associations [15,[20][21][22][23], the hippocampus is critical for allocentric spatial learning and memory, and the formation of a cognitive map (i.e.…”

“…Video game playing is also associated with greater volume and activity in the striatum [11,12]. The striatum is part of the brain's reward pathway and has been implicated in the formation of habits [13] and procedural memory (e.g.…”