Analysis of Biosignals During Immersion in Computer Games

• Published in: Journal of medical systems Vol. 42; no. 1; pp. 3 - 9
• Main Authors: Yeo, Mina, Lim, Seokbeen, Yoon, Gilwon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.01.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Computer & video games; Computers; EKG; Electrocardiography; Female; Health Informatics; Health Sciences; Heart Rate; Humans; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted - methods; Internet; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mobile & Wireless Health; Nerves; Parasympathetic nervous system; Photoplethysmography; Pulse Wave Analysis; Republic of Korea; Skin; Skin Temperature; Statistics for Life Sciences; Sympathetic Nervous System - physiology; Transit time; Variability; Video Games; Wearable technology; Wireless Technology; Young Adult; Sympathetic nerve; Biosignal; Computer game; Internet gaming disorder; Heart rate variability
• ISSN: 0148-5598; 1573-689X; 1573-689X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10916-017-0860-y

The number of computer game users is increasing as computers and various IT devices in connection with the Internet are commonplace in all ages. In this research, in order to find the relevance of behavioral activity and its associated biosignal, biosignal changes before and after as well as during computer games were measured and analyzed for 31 subjects. For this purpose, a device to measure electrocardiogram, photoplethysmogram and skin temperature was developed such that the effect of motion artifacts could be minimized. The device was made wearable for convenient measurement. The game selected for the experiments was League of Legends™. Analysis on the pulse transit time, heart rate variability and skin temperature showed increased sympathetic nerve activities during computer game, while the parasympathetic nerves became less active. Interestingly, the sympathetic predominance group showed less change in the heart rate variability as compared to the normal group. The results can be valuable for studying internet gaming disorder.