Investigation of the effect of playing video games on visual attention and brain hemodynamics with functional near infrared spectroscopy

Video game playing is an attractive form of entertainment among school-age children. Although this activity has many adverse effects on child development, there have been only a few studies examining the biological effects of video games on brain activity. The aims of this study were i) to investigate effects of video game playing on attentional capacity and visual skills ii) to relate training induced alterations in performance with regional cerebral oxygenation levels obtained by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). 24 high school students (12 video game players and 12 non-video game players) participated in the study. Subjects were asked to perform a task-switching experiment. Cerebral oxygenation level in the prefrontal cortex was measured with a near infrared spectroscopy device. Video game players had shorter reaction times (p≪0.02) to presented stimuli and lower error rates (p≪0.04) when compared to non-video game players. As the task became more difficult; they were able to sustain better performance with more profound increase in prefrontal oxyenation (p≪0.008). The results imply that video game playing alters visual skills and hand-eye coordination. Higher prefrontal oxygenation observed in video game players suggests that limited vascular resources in their brain might be transferred towards areas involved in executive function.