Gamers Research Articles

Does playing video games improve psychological resilience? The mediating roles of in-game positive and negative affect, sense of competence, and social connection.

Does playing video games improve psychological resilience? The mediating roles of in-game positive and negative affect, sense of competence, and social connection.

Parents' and Teachers' Views about Suitable Future Jobs for Learners with High-Functioning Autism at a Special School

There appears to be limited information regarding studies exploring parents' and teachers' views on appropriate jobs for learners with high-functioning autism (HFA). This study is significant because its purpose was to explore parents' and teachers' views on suitable jobs for learners with HFA at a special school in Johannesburg, South Africa. This study also sought to explore parents' and teachers' opinions on vocational methods for supporting learners with HFA. An interpretive paradigm was used as part of the qualitative research methodology. The data were generated from 12 selected participants using purposive sampling, including six parents whose children had HFA and six teachers of learners with HFA from various phases of the school. Semistructured interviews and document analysis were used to generate the data. The data were analyzed via thematic data analysis. The study revealed that teachers and parents of learners with HFA see jobs such as waiters, athletes, swimmers, soccer players, basketball players, handball players, baking, cooking, drawing, artists, gardening, carpentry, building, plumbing, car-washing, driving, building websites, filing, laminating, playing video games, emailing, printing, and photographing as appropriate future jobs for learners with HFA. The findings revealed that vocational methods that are useful for developing jobs that are perceived as suitable for learners with HFA are gardening, sewing, cooking, selling food, and computer training through vocational shadowing involving multiple stakeholders. The study highlights the importance of a collaborative approach among stakeholders in developing individualized support plans for learners with HFA, focusing on identifying, nurturing, and placing them in suitable vocational roles for lifelong employment. Consequently, special education curricula for learners with HFA in South Africa should prioritize vocational skills and be collaboratively designed by all stakeholders. Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorders; Parents; Teachers; High-Functioning Autism; Jobs

Associations of computer gaming with incident dementia, cognitive functions, and brain structure: a prospective cohort study and Mendelian randomization analysis

BackgroundComputer gaming has recently been suggested to be associated with benefits for cognition, but its impact on incident dementia remains uncertain. We aimed to investigate the observational associations of playing computer games with incident dementia, cognitive functions, and brain structural measures, and further explore the genetic associations between computer gaming and dementia.MethodsWe included 471,346 White British participants without dementia at baseline based on the UK Biobank, and followed them until November 2022. We estimated the risk of dementia using Cox proportional hazard models, and assessed the changes of cognitive functions and brain structural measures using logistic regression models and linear regression models. Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to examine the association between genetically determined computer gaming and dementia.ResultsHigh frequency of playing computer games was associated with decreased risk of incident dementia (HR, 0.81 [95% CI: 0.69, 0.94]). Individuals with high frequency of playing computer games had better performance in prospective memory (OR, 1.46 [1.26, 1.70]), reaction time (beta, -0.195 [-0.243, -0.147]), fluid intelligence (0.334 [0.286, 0.382]), numeric memory (0.107 [0.047, 0.166]), incorrect pairs matching (-0.253 [-0.302, -0.203]), and high volume of gray matter in hippocampus (0.078 [0.023, 0.134]). Genetically determined high frequency of playing computer games was associated with a low risk of dementia (OR, 0.37 [0.15, 0.91]).ConclusionsComputer gaming was associated with a decreased risk of dementia, favorable cognitive function, and better brain structure, suggesting that computer gaming could modulate cognitive function and may be a promising target for dementia prevention.

Association between screen time and self-reported balance disorders in middle-aged and older adults: national health and nutrition examination survey

BackgroundBalance disorders can give rise to sensations of instability, lightheadedness, vertigo, disequilibrium, or syncope, ultimately leading to grave medical, physical, emotional, and societal ramifications. These conditions are highly prevalent among individuals aged 40 and above. Screen time encompasses activities associated with television viewing, video game playing, and non-work-related computer usage. Prolonged screen exposure may engender a spectrum of health issues and even elevate overall mortality rates. However, the available evidence on the potential link between excessive screen time and balance dysfunction remains limited.AimsThe primary aim of this study was to explore the possible association between prolonged screen exposure and impaired balance function.MethodsThis cross-sectional study utilized data from participants who completed a comprehensive questionnaire in the NHANES database between 1999 and 2002, all of whom were aged over 40 and under 85 years. Participants’ screen time was categorized into two groups (< 4 h/d and ≥4 h/d) for subsequent data analysis. Logistic regression, combined with propensity score matching (PSM), was employed to investigate the correlation between screen time and balance disorders.ResultsA total of 5176 participants were enrolled in this study, comprising 2,586 men and 2,590 women, with a prevalence rate of balance disorders at 25.7% (1331/5176). The incidence of balance disorders was found to be significantly higher among individuals who spent 4 hours or more per day on screen time compared to those with less screen time (P<0.001). Multivariate logistic analysis conducted on the unmatched cohort revealed a significant association between screen time and balance disorders, with an odds ratio (OR) 1.8 (95%CI 1.57 ∼ 2.05). These findings remained consistent even after adjusting for confounding factors, yielding an OR 1.43 (95%CI 1.24 ∼ 1.66). Moreover, the association persisted when employing various multivariate analyses such as propensity score matching adjusted model, standardized mortality ratio weighting model and pairwise algorithmic model; all resulting in ORs ranging from 1.38 to 1.43 and p-values < 0.001.ConclusionsAfter controlling for all covariates, screen time (watching TV, playing video games, and using computers outside of work) was associated with balance dysfunction among middle-aged and older adults. This finding may offer a possible idea for the prevention of dizziness and balance disorders. Nevertheless, additional research is imperative to further validate these results.

THE USE OF SMARTPHONES IN SHAPING OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AT SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL

Students use smartphones through access of different electronic media from anywhere at any time. Most of mobile phones can now efficiently cultivate popular activities such as playing computer games, accessing the Internet, supporting students' performance, destroying students' health &amp; enhancing their academic performance. This study examines the teacher's perception of the role of smartphones in shaping students' academic performance at the secondary level. For this drive, data was collected by using a self-developed survey questionnaire. So, 160 secondary school teachers, including 70 male and 90 female teachers, were selected using simple random sampling. Data about frequencies, percentages, means, and SD were analyzed. The results show that teachers confirmed that smartphones support students in gaining new skills, like critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The studies also illustrate that smartphones are destroying students' health and increasing depression. Study advised that teachers and parents may check and balance the usage of mobile by students for their well-being. Teachers and parents motivate them to use smartphones positively, enhancing their learning and education quality.

Long-term impact of digital media on brain development in children

Digital media (DM) takes an increasingly large part of children’s time, yet the long-term effect on brain development remains unclear. We investigated how individual effects of DM use (i.e., using social media, playing video games, or watching television/videos) on the development of the cortex (i.e., global cortical surface area), striatum, and cerebellum in children over 4 years, accounting for both socioeconomic status and genetic predisposition. We used a prospective, multicentre, longitudinal cohort of children from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study, aged 9.9 years when entering the study, and who were followed for 4 years. Annually, children reported their DM usage through the Youth Screen Time Survey and underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging scans every 2 years. Quadratic-mixed effect modelling was used to investigate the relationship between individual DM usage and brain development. We found that individual DM usage did not alter the development of cortex or striatum volumes. However, high social media usage was associated with a statistically significant change in the developmental trajectory of cerebellum volumes, and the accumulated effect of high-vs-low social media users on cerebellum volumes over 4 years was only β = − 0.03, which was considered insignificant. Nevertheless, the developmental trend for heavy social media users was accelerated at later time points. This calls for further studies and longer follow-ups on the impact of social media on brain development.

Exploring the relationship between personality and gaming disorder symptoms in a sample of Dota 2 players

This study explored the relationship between the big five personality traits and gaming disorder symptoms (GDS) in a sample of Dota 2 players. Recent research has indicated that the relationship between personality traits and GDS may depend on the video game genre investigated. However, the association between GDS and personality has yet to be investigated within a specific game, which may be even more relevant to explore as each game offers unique gameplay mechanics that can influence player behavior differently. Thus, the present study investigated the relationship between the big five personality traits and GDS in a sample of video game players from a specific game, DOTA 2 (n = 321, M = 23.25 years, SD = 4.51). Multiple linear regression was used to analyze GDS formatted as a composite score, and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were further conducted for analyses in which gamers were classified into normal gamers (i.e., less than three criteria endorsed), moderate-risk gamers (i.e., four criteria endorsed), and high-risk gamers (i.e., all criteria endorsed). The analysis of the composite score showed a significant relationship between neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and GDS. Analyses of the gaming classifications revealed that neuroticism was the most crucial factor concerning differentiating moderate-risk and high-risk from normal gamers. The findings and their practical implications are further discussed.

Using subjective emotion, facial expression, and gaze direction to evaluate user affective experience and predict preference when playing single-player games

The affective experience generated when users play computer games can influence their attitude and preference towards the game. Existing evaluation means mainly depend on subjective scales and physiological signals. However, some limitations should not be ignored (e.g. subjective scales are not objective, and physiological signals are complicated). In this paper, we 1) propose a novel method to assess user affective experience when playing single-player games based on pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) emotions, facial expressions, and gaze directions, and 2) build an artificial intelligence model to identify user preference. Fifty-four subjects participated in a basketball experiment with three difficulty levels. Their expressions, gaze directions, and subjective PAD emotions were collected and analysed. Experimental results showed that the expression intensities of angry, sad, and neutral, yaw angle degrees of gaze direction, and PAD emotions varied significantly under different difficulties. Besides, the proposed model achieved better performance than other machine-learning algorithms on the collected dataset.

Purpose matters: Video gaming impacts on addiction symptoms and academic performance of students with disabilities

Video games are often considered a distraction or impediment to academic engagement and performance for college students with disabilities. Evidence suggests that students with disabilities may be more susceptible to excessive use of video games. This study explores the relationships between the time spent playing video games and the purpose of playing video game addiction symptoms, academic self-efficacy, academic engagement, and academic performance among college students with disabilities. An online survey was used to guide the data collection, and two hundred ninety-three college students with disabilities completed the survey. The results showed a positive relationship between time spent playing video games and video game addiction symptoms. However, playing frequency did not negatively affect students’ academic self-efficacy, academic engagement, or academic performance. Importantly, when the main purpose for playing video games was not entertainment-related, a significant association was found between video game addiction symptoms, academic cognitive engagement, and peer relationships. This suggested that the purposes for playing video games are more indicative than the frequency of playing for problem gaming behaviors. Suggestions and implications were discussed.

Affective Uplift During Video Game Play: A Naturalistic Case Study

Affective Uplift During Video Game Play: A Naturalistic Case Study

Activation of the Frontal Pole Using Children’s Video Games: Support for Children’s Well-being

Effective support intended to promote children&amp;rsquo;s well-being has gained scholarly attention worldwide. Well-being is composed of complex elements. Of these elements, the promotion of executive function, which coordinates cognitive activities, via an effective method is important. Regarding the frontal pole in the anterior part of the prefrontal cortex, scholars presume that it is involved in advanced abilities, such as metacognition, and is essential for well-being. In today&amp;rsquo;s digital society, video games are appealing to children. Thus, a possibility exists that children can achieve certain aspects of well-being, such as a sense of achievement, perseverance, and happiness, by playing video games. In this regard, evidence that video games can be used to activate the prefrontal cortex is accumulating. In light of this discussion, this study hypothesizes that playing video games may affect the frontal pole and analyzes the brain activation of the frontal pole using video games compared with a mental abacus activity. The results demonstrate that playing through an educational game called Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain exhibited more activation potential than mental abacus in many points.

Daytime Sleepiness from Preschool Children's and Parents' Perspectives: Is There a Difference?

This cross-sectional study investigated the level of daytime sleepiness and sleep-related behaviors in preschool children and compared their self-evaluations with the evaluations of their parents. It was conducted in Split-Dalmatian County, Croatia, among 196 preschool children aged 6-7 years seen at regular medical examinations, accompanied by their parents, using the Epworth sleepiness scale for children and parents/caregivers. Compared to their child's reports, parents tended to underestimate their child's sleepiness while sitting in a classroom at school (p = 0.001) and overestimate their child's sleepiness when lying down to rest or nap in the afternoon (p < 0.001). Boys were sleepier while sitting in a classroom at school during the morning than girls (p = 0.032). As much as 48.2% of preschool children had their own cellphones/tablets. Boys used video games (p < 0.001) and cellphones/tablets more than girls did (p = 0.064). Parental estimation of children playing video games at bedtime was lower than the child's report (p < 0.001). Children who had a TV in their bedroom reported more daytime sleepiness (p = 0.049), and those who played video games at bedtime went to sleep later during the weekend (p = 0.024). Also, children owning cellphone/tablets had longer sleep latency during the weekend compared to children not owning a cellphone (p = 0.015). This study confirmed that parents tend to underestimate children's habits of playing video games at bedtime and children's sleepiness during morning classes. Preschool children who use electronic devices at bedtime more frequently have prolonged sleep latency. These findings provide further evidence of the effects of electronic media devices on preschoolers' sleep patterns and daytime sleepiness.

Effectiveness of Structured Intervention Module on Video Game Addiction among Adolescents in Nepal

Introduction: Online gaming addiction has been associated with several detrimental effects in teenagers, such as worsening mental health, elevated levels of psychoticism, anxiety, and depression, strained family relationships, reduced quality of life, an increase in social anxiety, subpar academic performance, and enhanced sleep deprivation. Objective: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a structured intervention module on video game addiction among adolescents. Methods: A true experimental investigation was conducted among 348 adolescents from the control and 348 adolescents from the experimental group. The questionnaire was developed using the Gaming Addiction Scale. Data were coded, entered, and analysed using the Software Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (t-test). Results: The mean age of the participants in the control group and experimental group were 17.3, and 18.3 respectively. The majority of the participants were male in both the control and experimental groups (52.6% and 55.7%). About 39.7% of adolescents from the control group and 29.6% of the adolescents from the intervention group were studying in twelve standards. The majority of the participants in both the control and experimental groups started playing video games at the age of 7 to 8 years. The most popular mode of video game play among the participants in the control (61.5%) and experimental groups (60.3%), was online. Multi-player was highly preferred by study participants in both the control group (71.6%) and the experimental group (74.1%). After receiving interventions, video game addiction reduced significantly among the experimental group, from 42% to 25% during the post-test. However, the status of video game addiction remained constant among the control group at 46.3%. During post-tests, the study found that there was a significant difference in the mean scores between the control group (3.7±0.6) and the experimental group (1.9±0.7). The difference was found to be statistically significant (p&lt;0.0001). Conclusion: The study showed that the structured intervention module was effective in reducing gaming addiction among adolescents in the experimental group. This study highlights that intervention modules can help reduce gaming addiction levels among adolescents.

Co-activation patterns during viewing of different video game genres

Past research has revealed cognitive improvements resulting from engagement with both traditional action video games and newer action-like video games, such as action real-time strategy games (ARSG). However, the cortical dynamics elicited by different video gaming genres remain unclear. This study explored the temporal dynamics of cortical networks in response to different gaming genres. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were obtained during eye-closed resting and passive viewing of gameplay videos of three genres: life simulation games (LSG), first-person shooter games (FPS), and ARSG. Data analysis used a seed-free Co-Activation Pattern (CAP) based on Regions of Interest (ROIs). When comparing the viewing of action-like video games (FPS and ARSG) to LSG viewing, significant dynamic distinctions were observed in both primary and higher-order networks. Within action-like video games, compared to FPS viewing, ARSG viewing elicited a more pronounced increase in the Fraction of Time and Counts of attentional control-related CAPs, along with an increased Transition Probability from sensorimotor-related CAPs to attentional control-related CAPs. Compared to ARSG viewing, FPS viewing elicited a significant increase in the Fraction of Time of sensorimotor-related CAPs, when gaming experience was considered as a covariate. Thus, different video gaming genres, including distinct action-like video gaming genres, elicited unique dynamic patterns in whole-brain CAPs, potentially influencing the development of various cognitive processes.

Gaming expertise induces meso‑scale brain plasticity and efficiency mechanisms as revealed by whole-brain modeling

Video games are a valuable tool for studying the effects of training and neural plasticity on the brain. However, the underlying mechanisms related to plasticity-associated brain structural changes and their impact on brain dynamics are unknown. Here, we used a semi-empirical whole-brain model to study structural neural plasticity mechanisms linked to video game expertise. We hypothesized that video game expertise is associated with neural plasticity-mediated changes in structural connectivity that manifest at the meso‑scale level, resulting in a more segregated functional network topology. To test this hypothesis, we combined structural connectivity data of StarCraft II video game players (VGPs, n = 31) and non-players (NVGPs, n = 31), with generic fMRI data from the Human Connectome Project and computational models, to generate simulated fMRI recordings. Graph theory analysis on simulated data was performed during both resting-state conditions and external stimulation. VGPs’ simulated functional connectivity was characterized by a meso‑scale integration, with increased local connectivity in frontal, parietal, and occipital brain regions. The same analyses at the level of structural connectivity showed no differences between VGPs and NVGPs. Regions that increased their connectivity strength in VGPs are known to be involved in cognitive processes crucial for task performance such as attention, reasoning, and inference. In-silico stimulation suggested that differences in FC between VGPs and NVGPs emerge in noisy contexts, specifically when the noisy level of stimulation is increased. This indicates that the connectomes of VGPs may facilitate the filtering of noise from stimuli. These structural alterations drive the meso‑scale functional changes observed in individuals with gaming expertise. Overall, our work sheds light on the mechanisms underlying structural neural plasticity triggered by video game experiences.

Event-related prefrontal activations during online video game playing are modulated by game mechanics, physiological arousal and the amount of daily playing

There is a trend to study human brain functions in ecological contexts and in relation to human factors. In this study, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record real-time prefrontal activities in 42 male university student habitual video game players when they played a round of multiplayer online battle arena game, League of Legends. A content-based event coding approach was used to analyze regional activations in relation to event type, physiological arousal indexed by heart rate (HR) change, and individual characteristics of the player. Game events Slay and Slain were found to be associated with similar HR and prefrontal responses before the event onset, but differential responses after the event onset. Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activation preceding the Slay onset correlated positively with HR change, whereas activations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and rostral frontal pole area (FPAr) preceding the Slain onset were predicted by self-reported hours of weekly playing (HoWP). Together, these results provide empirical evidence to support the notion that event-related regional prefrontal activations during online video game playing are shaped by game mechanics, in-game dynamics of physiological arousal and individual characteristics the players.

Harmful compared to what? The problem of gaming and ambiguous causal questions.

There has been much concern regarding potential harmful effects of video game-play in the past 40 years, but limited progress in understanding its causal role. This paper discusses the basic requirements for identifying causal effects of video game-play and argues that most research to date has focused upon ambiguous causal questions. Video games and mental health are discussed from the perspective of causal inference with compound exposures; that is, exposures with multiple relevant variants that affect outcomes in different ways. Not only does exposure to video games encompass multiple different factors, but also not playing video games is equally ambiguous. Estimating causal effects of a compound exposure introduces the additional challenge of exposure-version confounding. Without a comparison of well-defined interventions, research investigating the effects of video game-play will be difficult to translate into actionable health interventions. Interventions that target games should be compared with other interventions aimed at improving the same outcomes.

VR.net: A Real-world Dataset for Virtual Reality Motion Sickness Research.

Researchers have used machine learning approaches to identify motion sickness in VR experience. These approaches would certainly benefit from an accurately labeled, real-world, diverse dataset that enables the development of generalizable ML models. We introduce 'VR.net', a dataset comprising 165-hour gameplay videos from 100 real-world games spanning ten diverse genres, evaluated by 500 participants. VR.net accurately assigns 24 motion sickness-related labels for each video frame, such as camera/object movement, depth of field, and motion flow. Building such a dataset is challenging since manual labeling would require an infeasible amount of time. Instead, we implement a tool to automatically and precisely extract ground truth data from 3D engines' rendering pipelines without accessing VR games' source code. We illustrate the utility of VR.net through several applications, such as risk factor detection and sickness level prediction. We believe that the scale, accuracy, and diversity of VR.net can offer unparalleled opportunities for VR motion sickness research and beyond.We also provide access to our data collection tool, enabling researchers to contribute to the expansion of VR.net.

Hearing screening in video game players with headphones use

Background: Hearing loss due to noise can cause by entertainment activities. Loud noise resulting from use of earphones with excessive volume and for long periods threatens the safety of the user's hearing. Purpose: To determine the hearing function of video game players who use headphones. Methods: This research is a descriptive study with a cross-sectional design. Hearing function of the players were carried out using pure tone audiometry. Results: Total of 56 subjects were male (100%) and 66.1% subjects had used headphones for &lt;12 months, 7.1% for 12-24 months and 26.8% for &gt;24 months. As many as 87.5% subjects were exposed to headphone noise for &lt;3 hours per day, 10.7% subjects for 4-6 hours per day and 1.8% for &gt;6 hours per day. The volume level of headphones gamers was mostly set at 6 (39.3%). Based on pure tone audiometry, all subjects had normal hearing thresholds at low frequencies (500Hz and 1000Hz) and medium frequencies (2000Hz and 4000 Hz). Only 3 subjects (5%) had an increase of hearing threshold at high frequencies (6000Hz and 8000Hz). Conclusion: The hearing thresholds for each ear in video game players who use headphones based on frequency groups were identified in this study. An increase in hearing threshold in gamers could be an early sign of hearing loss, then hearing conservation education program should be considered for active gamers.

Is There a Longitudinal Effect of Different Types of Digital Technology Use on Preadolescents’ Subjective Well-Being?

This study aims to explore the possibility of predicting changes in preadolescents’ subjective well-being (SWB) indicators, namely life satisfaction (LS), positive (PA) and negative affect (NA), based on how often they engage in different activities using digital technology (DT). Exploratory, it examines whether gender and age moderate links between DT usage and well-being. The study is conducted using self-report measures at two time points, with one year apart. Participants were 1379 elementary school pupils from Croatia (48% were boys), aged from 8 to 13 (M = 11.03, SD = 1.14) at the first time point. LS was assessed using BMSLSS (Seligson et al., 2003). PA and NA were assessed using PANAS-C scale (Ebesutani et al., 2012). Finally, participants indicated how often they engage in different activities using digital technology: use of social media (using social networks, texting with friends, posting online), playing video games, and watching TV. Only social media use predicted a small decrease in LS one year later. Different types of DT use did not predict changes in PA. These models were the same for boys and girls, and for younger and older preadolescents. Changes in NA were not related to any of the DT predictors. However, differential effects were observed for boys and girls with playing video games emerging as a positive predictor of NA for girls only. All observed effects were very small. These findings point to the importance of evaluating individual contribution of different activities that preadolescents engage in with the use of digital technology to their SWB.