Real‐time monitoring prefrontal activities during online video game playing by functional near‐infrared spectroscopy

Abstract

A growing body of literature has suggested that video game playing can induce functional and structural plasticity of the brain. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain poorly understood. In this study, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record prefrontal activities in 24 experienced game players when they played a massively multiplayer online battle arena video game, League of Legends (LOL), under naturalistic conditions. It was observed that game onset was associated with significant activations in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and concomitant deactivations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and frontal pole area (FPA). Game events, such as slaying an enemy and being slain by an enemy evoked region-specific time-locked hemodynamic/oxygenation responses in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). It was proposed that the VLPFC activities during LOL playing are likely responses to visuo-motor task load of the game, while the DLPFC/FPA activities may be involved in the constant shifts of attentional states and allocation of cognitive resources required by game playing. The present study demonstrated that it is feasible to use fNIRS to monitor real-time prefrontal activity during online video game playing.

The Effect of Video Game–Based Interventions on Performance and Cognitive Function in Older Adults: Bayesian Network Meta-analysis

“…The mechanisms underlying changes following video game interventions remain unclear, although they might be related to tonic/phasic activation or inhibition of affected brain regions during video game playing [ 73 ] that make the participants feel satisfied. Specifically, psychological satisfaction and pleasure might be related to the various feedback mechanisms provided to the player by the active video game.…”

Prefrontal cortical activation in Internet Gaming Disorder Scale high scorers during actual real-time internet gaming: A preliminary study using fNIRS

“…An event-related approach ( Cavanagh & Castellanos, 2016 ; Li et al, 2018 ) was used to analyze the HbO and HbR concentrations accompanying specific game events. Video recordings of participants’ gameplay was analyzed by an experienced LOL player to mark the time point of the occurrence of positive or negative events.…”

“…A previous study using fNIRS while participants played LOL reported similar numbers of events (average of 2.5–4.58 events) and ranges (e.g., 0–8. 1–14) per condition and reported the numbers are sufficient for analysis ( Li et al, 2018 ). It is noteworthy that the wide range in the number of events tagged to each individual in both our study and the aforementioned study is due to the variability of each game session.…”

“…While fNIRS is similar to functional MRI (fMRI) in that it measures blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals, it holds many advantages such as its superior temporal resolution compared to fMRI, tolerance to motion artifacts, unnecessariness of constraint, low cost, and portability ( Pinti et al, 2020 ), rendering it an adequate method for observing neural activations during gameplay. Previous research indicates fNIRS to be useful in monitoring time-resolved hemodynamic/oxygenation fluctuations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and temporal gyrus when playing video games ( Li, Zhang, Long, Gong, & Lei, 2018 ; Matsuda & Hiraki, 2006 ; Moro et al, 2016 ; Ono et al, 2014 ).…”

Engagement with technology: Gaming, immersion and sub-optimal experiences

“…In different stages of a game, latency -the time taken to trigger a strong emotional response -can also differ. In particular, the onset of a game has been found to rapidly trigger activity in the prefrontal cortex (the area of the brain that involves executive functioning) (Li et al, 2018). Recognising these characteristics, and recalling the manner in which the girls' L2 communication rapidly transitions from a state of hesitancy (line 2) and experienced coercion (line 4), to a state of intense activity (lines 26-29), these interactions appear to be better explained in terms of an experience specific to being immersed in a digital game.…”