Action Video Game Playing Is Reflected In Enhanced Visuomotor Performance and Increased Corticospinal Excitability

• Published in: PloS one 2016-12, Vol.11 (12), p.e0169013
• Main Authors: Morin-Moncet, Olivier, Therrien-Blanchet, Jean-Marc, Ferland, Marie C, Théoret, Hugo, West, Greg L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Behavior disorders; Behavioral plasticity; Biology and Life Sciences; Brain research; Computer & video games; Cortex (motor); Drug abuse; Electronic & video games; Engineering research; Evoked Potentials, Motor - physiology; Excitability; Female; Humans; Magnetic fields; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Motor Cortex - physiology; Motor skill learning; Motor task performance; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurophysiology; Physiological aspects; Plastic properties; Plasticity; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Pyramidal tracts; Pyramidal Tracts - physiology; Reaction Time; Reaction time task; Research and Analysis Methods; Sensorimotor integration; Social Sciences; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; Video Games; Visual cortex; Visual tasks
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169013

Action video game playing is associated with improved visuomotor performance; however, the underlying neural mechanisms associated with this increased performance are not well understood. Using the Serial Reaction Time Task in conjunction with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, we investigated if improved visuomotor performance displayed in action video game players (actionVGPs) was associated with increased corticospinal plasticity in primary motor cortex (M1) compared to non-video game players (nonVGPs). Further, we assessed if actionVGPs and nonVGPs displayed differences in procedural motor learning as measured by the SRTT. We found that at the behavioral level, both the actionVGPs and nonVGPs showed evidence of procedural learning with no significant difference between groups. However, the actionVGPs displayed higher visuomotor performance as evidenced by faster reaction times in the SRTT. This observed enhancement in visuomotor performance amongst actionVGPs was associated with increased corticospinal plasticity in M1, as measured by corticospinal excitability changes pre- and post- SRTT and corticospinal excitability at rest before motor practice. Our results show that aVGPs, who are known to have better performance on visual and motor tasks, also display increased corticospinal excitability after completing a novel visuomotor task.