Gaming expertise induces meso‑scale brain plasticity and efficiency mechanisms as revealed by whole-brain modeling

Published June 2024

Coronel-Oliveros, C., Medel, V., Orellana, S., Rodiño, J., Lehue, F., Cruzat, J., Tagliazucchi, E., Brzezicka, A., Orio, P., Kowalczyk-Grębska, N., & Ibáñez, A. (2024). Gaming expertise induces meso‑scale brain plasticity and efficiency mechanisms as revealed by whole-brain modeling. In NeuroImage (Vol. 293, p. 120633). Elsevier BV.

DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120633

Links

• https://github.com/carlosmig/StarCraft-2-Modeling
• https://github.com/adrianponce/Linear-Hopf-model

Short summary for very busy people

Findings suggest that gaming expertise neural plasticity at structural connectivity is associated with functional meso‑scale re-organization in the brain.

RTS video games are unique in the way that they not only require the use of logical reasoning and memory to anticipate other players' actions but also involve real-time coordination and decision-making, demanding quick and accurate choices. The fMRI meta-analysis using Neurosynth revealed positive correlations between regional functional strength (VGPs minus NVGPs) with the association's maps of attention, reasoning, and inference cognitive terms. That is, brain areas with increased functional strength in VGPs are also consistently activated in fMRI studies related to these concepts.