Does Video Gaming Have Impacts on the Brain: Evidence from a Systematic Review

Abstract

Video gaming, the experience of playing electronic games, has shown several benefits for human health. Recently, numerous video gaming studies showed beneficial effects on cognition and the brain. A systematic review of video gaming has been published. However, the previous systematic review has several differences to this systematic review. This systematic review evaluates the beneficial effects of video gaming on neuroplasticity specifically on intervention studies. Literature research was conducted from randomized controlled trials in PubMed and Google Scholar published after 2000. A systematic review was written instead of a meta-analytic review because of variations among participants, video games, and outcomes. Nine scientific articles were eligible for the review. Overall, the eligible articles showed fair quality according to Delphi Criteria. Video gaming affects the brain structure and function depending on how the game is played. The game genres examined were 3D adventure, first-person shooting (FPS), puzzle, rhythm dance, and strategy. The total training durations were 16–90 h. Results of this systematic review demonstrated that video gaming can be beneficial to the brain. However, the beneficial effects vary among video game types.

Non-Immersive Virtual Reality for Post-Stroke Upper Extremity Rehabilitation: A Small Cohort Randomized Trial

“…Moreover, recent research showed that there are visible changes in MRI after the application of other cognitive and neuro-muscular training modalities, such as video-gaming, and immersive and non-immersive virtual reality as a recovery therapy. Thus, positive influences are found both at the level of neuro-motor evaluation methods and also at the imaging level [47,48].…”

Active Video Games for Improving Mental Health and Physical Fitness—An Alternative for Children and Adolescents during Social Isolation: An Overview

“…The divergences found in the present study can be explained by the fact that exergames are a relatively new technological achievement, making studies with different designs possible. However, it should be understood that promising opportunities exist with technologies that, for example, make people more active and promote motor skills, cognitive performance and mental health [ 46 , 47 ]. In terms of mental health, it is noteworthy that the present study found that exergames promote positive effects on self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-concept, help with interest and situational motivations, providing a sense of pleasure, psychological well-being and different learning experiences [ 30 , 41 , 43 ].…”

“…However, it is noteworthy that there is a difference with people who play cooperatively in the form of competition, as those who are highly competitive report more positive moods and greater pleasure when placed in a competitive exergaming environment, while non-competitive participants report higher levels of pleasure, humor, self-efficacy, motivation, engagement and play for longer periods when placed in a non-competitive exergaming environment. Thus, video games can be beneficial to the brain, however, the benefits vary depending on the type of video game [ 47 , 48 , 49 ].…”

A Motivational Model Explaining Performance in Video Games

“…Video gaming is growing, not only as a gaming phenomenon but also as a field of study. Video gaming has been studied from a variety of different areas, such as rehabilitation of gait and balance problems (Ravenek et al, 2016), identifying gaming disorder (Kaptsis et al, 2016), neurological aspect of gaming (Palaus et al, 2017), how gaming affects the brain structure (Brilliant et al, 2019), potential associations between gaming and cognition (Röhlcke et al, 2018;Nuyens et al, 2019), and whether education can be gamified (Kim et al, 2018). Today, video gaming and e-sport are challenging more "traditional" sports in terms of the increasing amount of both recreation players and professional players.…”