Psychology In The News | Gamers and Connectivity

A neuroimaging study investigated how action video gaming relates to brain connectivity in visual processing pathways. Researchers hypothesised that action video game players would show enhanced functional and structural connectivity within visual streams due to gameplay demands, which involve intensive spatial exploration, navigation, and rapid timing coordination.

The brain processes visual information through two distinct pathways: the dorsal stream (the ‘where’ pathway) and the ventral stream (the ‘what’ pathway). The dorsal stream extends from the primary visual cortex to the parietal lobe and processes spatial location and movement information, guiding bodily movements in relation to objects. The ventral stream runs from the primary visual cortex to the temporal lobe and focuses on object recognition, including details and colours. Together, these pathways integrate visual information for perception and environmental interaction.

The study included 47 volunteer participants: 28 action video gamers (24 male, 4 female) and 19 non-gamers (7 male, 12 female), with an average age of 20-21 years. Gamers were defined as individuals who played action video games—specifically First-Person Shooter (FPS), Real-Time Strategy (RTS), Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA), or Battle Royale (BR) genres—for five or more hours weekly. Non-gamers played any type of video game for less than 30 minutes weekly over the previous two years.

All participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that focused on brain regions comprising both visual processing streams. The researchers employed specialised software to analyse both structural connectivity (physical neural connections) and functional connectivity (temporal interaction between regions) between brain areas.

Results revealed that action video gamers exhibited enhanced connectivity in the studied regions, with particular emphasis on the dorsal visual stream. Specifically, gamers showed increased functional connectivity between the left superior occipital gyrus and the left superior parietal lobule during a moving-dot discrimination task, where participants had to determine the overall direction of motion in a field of moving dots. Gamers with stronger connectivity in this region demonstrated faster response times (in seconds) on the task.

The researchers concluded that these connectivity changes in the dorsal visual stream likely underpin gamers' superior performance in tasks requiring rapid and accurate vision-based decision-making. However, they acknowledged an important limitation: the cross-sectional design cannot establish causality. While gaming might induce the observed improvements in connectivity, it's equally possible that individuals with naturally better connectivity in these regions are drawn to action gaming because their brain anatomy provides them with performance advantages in such games. Further research with different methodologies would be needed to determine the direction of this relationship.

Reference:

Cahill, K., Jordan, T., & Dhamala, M. (2024). Connectivity in the Dorsal Visual Stream Is Enhanced in Action Video Game Players. Brain Sciences, 14(12), 1206. https://doi.org/10.3390/brains... (accessed 9.4.25)

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS!

Q1: What limitations are there with the sample involved in the study?

Q2: How did the researchers operationalise the independent variable of ‘gamer’ status?

Q3: How did researchers measure the dependent variable?

Q4: Why can cause and effect not be established, in other words, why can we not say that gaming leads to greater connectivity of brain areas?

Q5 / Challenge: Suggest how you could conduct a follow-up study to this piece of research to allow you to establish cause and effect between action video gaming and brain connectivity