Video Games and Motor Performance

Our motor performance is needed for us to execute specific actions. Activates that involve speed, intuition, and skill such as sports and music use quick motor cues and quick motor responses.  In addition, our ability to respond and react to different cues are important to our daily life and our daily reflexes.  Our ability to time these motor cues and the patterns that our body creates in accordance to these motor cues are critical factors when looking at motor performance. A study done by Goble, Parrish, and Reber interpreted the motor performance and the sequences using circuits connected to different cortical regions of the brain in order to study motor performance.  The same ideas and principles can be applied to another similar study done by Gong, Lie, and Dong, who all studied the effect of video games on motor performance. Just like our motor skills in reaction to motor cues, video games are a prime example of something that uses a heavy amount of motor performance and intuition, especially high action video games.

Both of the studies tested the same regions of the brain and the same motor outputs of the brain, however, the experiments itself differ. For Goble, Parrish, and Reber’s study, motor sequence learning was monitored throughout the brain through Serial Interception Sequence Learning (SISL). In their study, participants needed to press a button in accordance to an appropriate target in a target zone. Through neuroimaging data, the responses were collected and measured and also by an fMRI scanner.  For Gong, Liu, and Dong, advanced action video gamers (AVGs) were studied against those who do not regularly play advanced action video games. In their study, it was shown that those who do regularly play advanced action video games have better attention and sensorimotor functions than those who do not. In their study, they concluded that cortical networks in the brain were affected when individuals played AVGs. Also, MRI scans were used in order to determine the effects of AVGs.

Gong and his collogues discovered that there was greater functional connectivity in the brains of players who were considered experts in contrast to the brains of those considered as of the amateurs. The anterior and the posterior regions of the brain were studied, and it was shown that the expert gamers had larger amounts of grey mater, which is used for processing. In addition, the anterior attentive network and the posterior sensorimotor region. In contrast, Gobel and his collogues concluded that learning a sequence and pattern before testing it actually decreases performance. While one would naturally believe that learning a pattern would cause us to react quicker, the reality of the situation as concluded by Gobel is that learning a practiced sequence does not guarantee it to be executed without flaw. With video-gaming, many of the reactions instinctive and quick and are in reflex to the game being played. These methods are not “practiced” per se, therefore, there is a higher amount of sensor motor ability when playing AVGs as opposed to pressing a button on cue in accordance to a learned pattern in the other study.

Both studies promote the importance of sensor motor and motor performance. In order to make sure that we are inept and able to perform motor skills with precision, we rely on our reflexes and our cortical pathways. In addition, our quick motor responses allow us to engage in actives such as music, sports, and activities of that require precision and skill, even advanced action video games. By stimulating our motor neurons and using them frequently, we can strengthen our pathways and allow our motor skills to become fine-tuned. These two studies conclude that our motor pathways are significant, and that the our motor pathways and cortical pathways can be studied even further in order to determine how to fine-tune and increase our motor skills.

Gobel, W. E., Parrish, B. T., Reber, J. P. (2011). Neural correlates of skill

acquisition: Decreased cortical activity during a serial interception sequence learning task. Neuroimage, 58, 1150-1157.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.06.090

Gong, D., He, H., Liu, D., Ma, W., Dong, L., Luo, C., & Yao, D. (2015, April 16). Enhanced functional connectivity and increased gray matter volume of insula related to action video game playing. Retrieved May 2, 2015, from http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150402/srep09763/full/srep09763.html