Fig 1.
The standard and non-standard visuomotor mapping conditions.
In both conditions participants were required to fixate on and touch the central target during the cue and delay periods. The central target turned from white to red to indicate the go signal for movement initiation. At this signal participants saccaded to and slid their finger on the touch screen to the cued target location in the Standard condition. In the Non-Standard condition participants also saccaded to the cued target location but slid their hand to the opposite target. Note that the conditions were the same for both Experiment 1 (fMRI) and Experiment 2 (behavioural) but in the second experiment the delay period was decreased from 10 seconds to a variable delay of 1.5 +/- 0.5 seconds.
Table 1.
Regions of interest localized across all participants.
Fig 2.
Translational and rotational head movement.
Group mean composite (x, y, and z directions) translational head motion (left panel) and rotational head motion (right panel). Data from the action video game (AVG) player group are represented by dashed burgundy lines and non-player data are represented by solid blue lines. Standard deviations are shown in paler colours around main plotted lines. Comparisons of estimates of area under the curve (using Riemann sums) for the gamer (hatched burgundy) and non-gamer (blue) groups are shown inset at the top left of each panel. Error bars represent standard deviation. No significant group differences in area under the curve were detected indicating that the overall amount of head motion in the scanner did not significantly differ between the AVG player and non-player groups.
Fig 3.
Relationship between preparatory BOLD signal and time spent playing.
Linear regression results for mean instructed-delay epoch BOLD signal beta weights versus estimates of time spent playing action video games in regions of interest with significantly lower amplitude BOLD signal in the AVG player group compared with the non-player group. Regions of interest are displayed on each regression plot as overlays on the mean T1-weighted anatomical images for all participants. The Standard visuomotor mapping is represented by green squares and solid green lines. The Non-Standard visuomotor mapping is represented by orange triangles and dashed orange lines. See Table 2 for specific p-values.
Table 2.
Linear regression of mean beta weights during the instructed-delay period versus estimated time spent playing video games each week.
Fig 4.
Relationship between the timing of peak BOLD response and time spent playing.
A) Histogram of peak beta weights of trials of the standard and non-standard visuomotor mapping tasks for action video game (AVG) players (burgundy) and non-players (blue) for the full trial time course. Only regions of interest in which AVG players had significantly lower amplitude BOLD signal than non-players in the instructed-delay epoch of trials are shown. Error bars represent standard deviation. No statistically significant differences in peak signal amplitude were observed between experimental groups or visuomotor tasks. B) Top plots: Event-related averages of fMRI activity over trials time-locked to the onset of the delay period. Time-courses associated with the standard and non-standard mapping tasks have been pooled for visual clarity. Error bars represent standard deviation. Time-courses for AVG players shown with burgundy dashed lines and non-players shown with blue solid lines. Bottom plots: Linear regression results showing relationships between the timing of peak BOLD signal and estimates of time spent playing AVGs. Results for the standard mapping task shown with green squares and solid lines. Results for the non-standard mapping task shown with orange triangles and dashed lines. See Table 3 for specific p-values.
Table 3.
Linear regression of the timing of mean peak beta weights versus estimated time spent playing action video games each week.
Fig 5.
Kinematic measures of arm movements in AVG players and non-players.
Mean arm movement velocity profiles after the “Go” signal for the AVG players (dashed burgundy line) and non-players (solid blue line). Velocity profiles are pooled for the Standard and Non-standard visuomotor conditions. Error bars represent SEM.
Table 4.
Mean values of kinematic measures collected in Experiment 2 in the AVG player and non-player groups for the standard and non-standard visuomotor mapping conditions.