Brain Activity Comparison of Different-Genre Video Game Players

Abstract

Brain areas activated by three different-genre video games, Othello, Tetris and Space Invader, were compared in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. The responses of blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI contrasts while playing games or viewing pseudo-visual stimuli similar to the video games were measured with a 1.5 Tesla scanner in 10 right-handed healthy participants performing experiments and analysed using statistical parametric mapping. Increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, the premotor cortex, the parietal cortex and the visual association cortex was specifically associated with playing the three video games. Othello and Tetris, which require logical thinking, activated broader areas of the prefrontal cortex, and Space Invader and Tetris, which require real-time reaction, activated broader areas of the premotor and parietal cortex. These results indicate that the areas of brain activation while playing different-genre video games depended on the combination of required skills for each game.