In a recent study, researchers investigated the impact of playing real-time strategy (RTS) video games on brain connectivity. They found that extended gameplay, particularly of the RTS game StarCraft II, led to significant differences in the structural and functional connectivity of the brain. The findings are published in the journal Neuroscience. Neuroimaging.
Video games have become a central part of contemporary culture, influencing sectors as diverse as education, medicine and professional e-sports. RTS games, which require players to manage resources, build bases and engage in strategic combat, provide a rich environment in which to study brain plasticity.
Previous studies have shown that such games can induce structural changes in the brain, but the mechanisms and functional implications behind these changes remain unclear. A new study aimed to fill this gap by using advanced brain modeling techniques to investigate how video game expertise affects brain connectivity and cognitive function.
“Our main interest was to study, from a plasticity mechanism, how expertise can shape the wiring of the brain. This applies not only to video games, but also to music, dance and almost any other domain,” said Carlos Coronel, a postdoctoral researcher at the Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat) in Chile and an author of the study.
“Why video games? One of the ways to stimulate neuroplasticity is to play video games,” explains Natalia Kowalczyk-Grebska, a postdoctoral researcher at SWPS University and co-author of the study. “In games, the level of engagement is adjusted to the level of the task being performed: if you win, you advance to a higher level and have to master new skills.”
“This creates new challenges, motivating players to hone the skills (and at the same time their brains) required to reach their goal and win the game. At the same time, the game's appeal keeps users highly motivated – they won't get bored even after hours of playing.”
The study involved 62 right-handed male participants split into two groups. The first group consisted of 31 experienced StarCraft II players who had played RTS games for at least 6 hours per week in the past 6 months. To ensure they had significant gaming experience, these participants had to have spent at least 60% of their total gaming time playing StarCraft II and were actively participating in competitive play. The second group consisted of 31 non-video gamers with little gaming experience, playing less than 6 hours per week of RTS games and less than 8 hours per week of video games total in the past 6 months.
All participants underwent comprehensive brain imaging using a 3 Tesla MRI scanner. The imaging protocol included T1-weighted anatomical scans and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to assess brain structure. Researchers employed advanced diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) techniques to create detailed maps of participants' brain connectivity, focusing on white matter pathways. Additionally, the study used functional MRI (fMRI) data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) to provide a baseline for comparing functional connectivity patterns.
The researchers found that StarCraft II players had increased connectivity within specific brain regions. These regions include the parieto-occipital and fronto-parietal networks that are important for visual attention, reasoning, and motor control. The increased connectivity suggests that extended gameplay improves communication between these regions, leading to improved cognitive performance.
The brains of video game players have also been shown to shift towards a more locally integrated network configuration, characterized by enhanced functional segregation (local connectivity) and reduced global efficiency (integration). In practical terms, gamers' brains may be specialised to process task-relevant information due to the cognitive demands of playing RTS games.
“Our initial idea was that expertise, i.e. video game expertise, would lead to increased functional integration, i.e. a more globally connected brain topology,” Coronel told PsyPost. “But we found the opposite: the brain became more locally connected. We call this 'mesoscale' integration. Only networks involved in skills relevant to StarCraft 2, such as those associated with attention, memory, and reasoning, were more connected and more efficient.”
Computational models showed that the brains of video game players were more resilient than non-players when exposed to external noise stimuli. This resilience was reflected in the ability to maintain high connection strength despite noise, suggesting that video game training improves the brain's ability to filter irrelevant information and maintain effective communication between regions.
The researchers used a meta-analysis tool called Neurosynth to examine correlations between players' increased brain connectivity and specific cognitive functions. They found that areas of increased connectivity in gamers were associated with improved cognitive abilities, including reasoning, inference, and attention. This suggests that the cognitive demands of playing RTS games may directly enhance these abilities.
The researchers also identified core structural connections in the brains of video game players that were primarily responsible for the observed functional differences. These connections primarily involved the parieto-occipital and fronto-parietal regions. This structural core was essential for the increased connectivity and functional reorganization seen in the gamers' brains.
“The key message is twofold,” Coronel explains. “The first is simply that 'practice makes perfect'. Expertise in almost any specific domain can change brain connections and make the brain more 'efficient' in that particular domain. The second is that some of the connections that are 'reformed' by some skills or domains, such as playing an instrument, professional dancing or cognitively stimulating activities, are implicated in brain aging. Thus, cognitively challenging activities can be used to protect against accelerated brain aging.”
Although this study provides important insights, it also has limitations. The relatively small sample size and inclusion of only male participants may limit the generalizability of the results. Furthermore, the cross-sectional nature of this study means that a causal relationship between video game playing and changes in brain connectivity cannot be established. Future research could include larger and more diverse samples to validate the results, as well as experimental studies to explore causal relationships.
To further understand the relationship between skill level and brain connectivity patterns, Coronel points out, “It would be great to know the relationship between player skill and brain connectivity patterns. Another caveat we have is the study design, which does not allow us to draw direct causal relationships. That is, we cannot say from our study that game proficiency changes players' connectivity to non-players, or that players are more likely to play video games because their brains are shaped for gaming.”
Broadening the scope of his research, Coronel outlined his long-term goal: “We want to prove that expertise in other areas, such as music, tango or painting, is associated with similar changes in brain connectivity.”
While acknowledging the potential benefits of video games, Coronel warned: “I want to be clear that I am not encouraging people to play video games for their health. Video games can be highly addictive for some people, and there are games that offer no benefits whatsoever.”
The study, “Gaming skills induce mesoscale brain plasticity and efficiency mechanisms revealed by whole-brain modeling,” was authored by Carlos Coronel-Oliveros, Vicente Medel, Sebastián Orellana, Julio Rodiño, Fernando Lehue, Josephine Cruzat, Enzo Tagliazucchi, Aneta Brzezicka, Patricio Orio, Natalia Kowalczyk-Grębska and Agustín Ibáñez.
