Neural bases of selective attention in action video game players.

Bavelier, D, Achtman, RL, Mani, M and Foecker, Julia (2012) Neural bases of selective attention in action video game players. Vision Research, 61 . pp. 132-143. ISSN 0042-6989

Full content URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/...

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Item Type:Article
Item Status:Live Archive

Abstract

Over the past few years, the very act of playing action video games has been shown to enhance several different aspects of visual selective attention, yet little is known about the neural mechanisms that mediate such attentional benefits. A review of the aspects of attention enhanced in action game players suggests there are changes in the mechanisms that control attention allocation and its efficiency (Hubert-Wallander, Green, & Bavelier, 2010). The present study used brain imaging to test this hypothesis by comparing attentional network recruitment and distractor processing in action gamers versus non-gamers as attentional demands increased. Moving distractors were found to elicit lesser activation of the visual motion-sensitive area (MT/MST) in gamers as compared to non-gamers, suggestive of a better early filtering of irrelevant information in gamers. As expected, a fronto-parietal network of areas showed greater recruitment as attentional demands increased in non-gamers. In contrast, gamers barely engaged this network as attentional demands increased. This reduced activity in the fronto-parietal network that is hypothesized to control the flexible allocation of top-down attention is compatible with the proposal that action game players may allocate attentional resources more automatically, possibly allowing more efficient early filtering of irrelevant information.

Additional Information:The final published version is available online in Vision Research: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042698911002872
Keywords:action video games, attention, top down, fronto parietal network
Subjects:C Biological Sciences > C800 Psychology
Divisions:College of Social Science > School of Psychology
ID Code:32882
Deposited On:09 Aug 2018 15:03

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