Abstract
Video gaming, specifically action video gaming, seems to improve a range of cognitive functions. The basis for these improvements may be attentional control in conjunction with reward-related learning to amplify the execution of goal-relevant actions while suppressing goal-irrelevant actions. Given that EEG alpha power reflects inhibitory processing, a core component of attentional control, it might represent the electrophysiological substrate of cognitive improvement in video gaming. The aim of this study was to test whether non-video gamers (NVGs), non-action video gamers (NAVGs) and action video gamers (AVGs) exhibit differences in EEG alpha power, and whether this might account for differences in visual information processing as operationalized by the theory of visual attention (TVA). Forty male volunteers performed a visual short-term memory paradigm where they memorized shape stimuli depicted on circular stimulus displays at six different exposure durations while their EEGs were recorded. Accuracy data was analyzed using TVA-algorithms. There was a positive correlation between the extent of post-stimulus EEG alpha power attenuation (10–12 Hz) and speed of information processing across all participants. Moreover, both EEG alpha power attenuation and speed of information processing were modulated by an interaction between group affiliation and time on task, indicating that video gamers showed larger EEG alpha power attenuations and faster information processing over time than NVGs – with AVGs displaying the largest increase. An additional regression analysis affirmed this observation. From this we concluded that EEG alpha power might be a promising neural substrate for explaining cognitive improvement in video gaming.
Highlights
We investigated the influence of the factor GROUP on medium and upper alpha ratios as we expected that video gamers exhibit different event-related EEG alpha power modulations than non-video gamers (NVGs)
None of the other correlations reached significance. This correlation indicates that an increase in alpha power attenuation in a frequency band from 10 to 12 Hz after processing stimulus displays (i.e., event-related desynchronization (ERD)) goes along with an increase in speed of information processing
Given that EEG alpha power modulations represent a neural substrate of attentional control, our results may support the idea that the conjunction between reward-related learning and attentional control represents a core mechanism in cognitive improvement in video gamers (Bavelier and Green, 2019)
Summary
There is convincing evidence that playing commercially available video games, in particular action video games, such as Battlefield V (EA DICE; Stockholm), may improve cognitive functions – ranging from perception (Dye et al, 2009; Li et al, 2009, 2010; Bejjanki et al, 2014), over memory (Blacker and Curby, 2013; Blacker et al, 2014; McDermott et al, 2014; Pavan et al, 2019), probabilistic inference (Green et al, 2010; Schenk et al, 2017), and executive control (Colzato et al, 2010; Cain et al, 2012; Green et al, 2012; Strobach et al, 2012) to attentional deploymentEEG Alpha Power in Gamers (Greenfield et al, 1994; Green and Bavelier, 2003; Chisholm and Kingstone, 2012; Cain et al, 2014; Wu and Spence, 2013). In order to apply commercially available video games (e.g., Battlefield V) for such purposes, the mechanisms underlying their effects need to be understood more in detail: one prominent attempt to explain how in particular action video games may improve cognitive processing is the idea that they affect one specific cognitive domain which several cognitive functions have in common – known as learning to learn approach (Bavelier et al, 2012b; Green and Bavelier, 2012). The basis for this was supposed to be an increase in dopaminergic transmission as video games seem to elicit learning mechanisms similar to operant conditioning, and an enhanced suppression of irrelevant information processing while relevant information processing may be facilitated – which is considered as attentional control in this context (Bavelier and Green, 2019)
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