Video Gamers: Size of Brain Structures Predicts Success
ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2010) — Researchers can predict your performance on a video game simply by measuring the volume of specific structures in your brain, a multi-institutional team reports this week.
The new study, in the journal
Cerebral Cortex, found that nearly a quarter of the variability in achievement seen among men and women trained on a new video game could be predicted by measuring the volume of three structures in their brains.
The study adds to the evidence that specific parts of the striatum, a collection of distinctive tissues tucked deep inside the cerebral cortex, profoundly influence a person's ability to refine his or her motor skills, learn new procedures, develop useful strategies and adapt to a quickly changing environment.
Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on January 20, 2010
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp293
Striatal Volume Predicts Level of Video Game Skill Acquisition
Figure 1. Regions studied. Display in 3D and 2D images for the segmentations used to identify the nucleus accumbens (orange), putamen (red), caudate nucleus (blue), and hippocampus (green).
Kramer, Graybiel, Erickson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Art Kramer (left) at Illinois, Ann Graybiel of MIT, and Kirk Erickson of the University of Pittsburgh found that the volume of specific brain structures could predict how well a person would perform on a video game. The study was conducted at the University of Illinois.
They used high-resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to analyze the size of these brain regions in 39 healthy adults (aged 18-28; 10 of them male) who had spent less than three hours a week playing video games in the previous two years. The volume of each brain structure was compared to that of the brain as a whole.
Participants were then trained on one of two versions of Space Fortress, a video game developed at the University of Illinois that requires players to try to destroy a fortress without losing their own ship to one of several potential hazards.
Research > Space Fortress
Space Fortress is an action video game that requires constant shifts of attention, memory retrievals, visual tracking, fine motor control, and dynamic decision making. We are creating a hybrid cognitive model to play the game, part of a larger effort in studying skill transfer.
Sources:
- Video gamers: Size of brain structures predicts success
- Striatal Volume Predicts Level of Video Game Skill Acquisition -- Erickson et al., 10.1093/cercor/bhp293 -- Cerebral Cortex
- Video gamers: Size of brain structures predicts success
- Space Fortress :: CogWorks Laboratories :: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute / RPI
Related:
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Pittsburgh: News From Pitt
- Video gamers: Size of brain structures predicts success
- BBC News - Video game success may be in the mind, study finds
- Are Big Brains Predictors of Success?
- Big brains for video games - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com
- Want to be a better gamer? Size matters | Health Tech - CNET News
- Skilled video gamers have bigger brain structures, more success, study says | The Toybox | ZDNet.com
- Brain Scans Reveal Video Gamers' Secrets - BusinessWeek
- Study shows that better gamers have bigger brains, are better learners too -- Engadget
