Linking Esports to health risks and benefits: Current knowledge and future research needs

Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation: Augmenting the Training and Performance Potential in Esports Players

“…Therefore, training and competing in esports primarily involves the use of control devices (e.g., keyboards, mice, or console controllers). Playing esports requires efficient manual dexterity, good hand–eye coordination, highly focused attention, fast reaction times, and rapid decision making [ 3 , 6 ] in a virtual and electronic environment [ 1 ]. Esports players need to have strong physical, cognitive, and mental skills to endure long hours of daily training and must learn to maneuver through fast-changing, unpredictable virtual environments to succeed in highly intense and fiercely competitive tournaments.…”

“…Additional evidence also suggests the effectiveness of NIBS in improving working memory [ 19 , 20 ], decision making [ 21 ], attention [ 22 , 23 ], multi-tasking [ 24 ], reaction time [ 25 ], and motor learning and skill acquisition [ 26 , 27 , 28 ]. These performance-related outcomes are highly relevant to the training and performance characteristics of esports [ 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Just as in traditional sports, playing and competing in esports gaming requires fine motor skills, mental agility, and cognitive ability [ 3 , 6 ]. Therefore, benefits of NIBS observed in the sports literature may have direct implications for esports and can thus serve as a scientific premise for exploring the practical utility of NIBS-based techniques in improving skill acquisition and performance among esports players [ 9 ].…”

“…Finally, we are fully cognizant of the many health issues that participating in esports [ 6 , 80 ] can raise, including gambling disorders, overuse injuries, and doping behaviors. These issues constitute yet another avenue for research in which the use of neuromodulation can address the negative health consequences of esports.…”

“…Esports is now broadly viewed as a competitive sporting activity [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] and in recent years has enjoyed fast-growing popularity, both professionally and among amateur players [ 4 , 5 ]. Despite the highly competitive nature of the activity, which is both physically intense and mentally demanding [ 3 , 6 ], relatively little is known regarding effective esports training strategies designed to develop fine motor skills and optimize performance [ 7 ]. In this paper, we present a non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) approach [ 8 ] for esports training that has gained increasing attention in the non-digital (traditional) sports literature [ 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”