Extended Interaction With a BCI Video Game Changes Resting-State Brain Activity

• Published in: IEEE transactions on cognitive and developmental systems Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 809 - 823
• Main Authors: Singh, Avinash Kumar, Wang, Yu-Kai, King, Jung-Tai, Lin, Chin-Teng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.12.2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Brain connectivity; Brain research; Brain-computer interfaces; brain–computer interface (BCI); Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Coherence; Computer & video games; electroencephalogram (EEG); Electroencephalography; Fatigue; Games; Human-computer interface; Information flow; Recreation; resting state; video game
• ISSN: 2379-8920; 2379-8939
• DOI: 10.1109/TCDS.2020.2985102

Video games are a widespread leisure activity and essential for a substantial field of research. In several kinds of research, video games show positive effects on cognition. Video games' ability to change the brain in a way that improves cognition is already evident in the research world. The underlying brain dynamics assessed by coherence (Coh) and partial-directed coherence (PDC) can shed light on the effect of video game playing. Here, resting-state brain dynamics have been analyzed before and after four weeks of video game playing. Fifteen participants took part in this article, which ran for one consecutive month. Participants played a gem-swapping game with a brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm for five days per week for approximately 90 min for four continuous weeks. Significant (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">p< 0.05 </tex-math></inline-formula>) changes in information flow and connectivity measures for Coh and PDC were found in the fronto-central, fronto-parietal, and centro-parietal networks due to extended interaction with BCI. The results suggest that BCI is a potential facilitator of such resting-state network changes and may help to develop new strategies for improving cognition, but we also cannot deny the possible effects of such an effort on the disruption of a player's sense of engagement and increased mental fatigue.