Interaction effects of Action Real-Time Strategy Game experience and trait anxiety on brain functions measured via EEG rhythm

Abstract

Purpose

Action Real-Time Strategy Games (ART SGs) is a prominent component of lifestyles and offers an ecological venue to investigate brain functions. Anxiety is an adaptive emotion and may exert its wide influence on brain functions. However, little is known about the potential interaction effects of trait anxiety and ART SG exper ence on brain functions.

Materials and methods

In this study, EEG and behavioral data of 215 League of Legends (LOL) video game players were collected. And then, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted on relative power indices, and relations between power indices and game performance scores were calculated using Spearman's correlation.

Results

Results showed that (a) gamma (resting and game play states) and beta (game play state) powers of high-level ART SG players were greater than those of low-level players in the high-Trait Anxiety Inventory (TAI) score group (p<0.05); (b) during the game play state, the delta power of highlevel players was lower than that of the low-level players in the high-TAI score group (p<0.05); and (c) game performance scores were positively correlated with gamma powers.

Conclusions

These findings indicated that brain functions may be influenced by interactions of the ART SG experience and trait anxiety levels, and provided new insights into the potential mechanisms of brainapparatus conversation.

Keywords:

• Action Real-Time Strategy Game
• trait anxiety
• interaction effects
• EEG rhythm
• game play state

Author contributions

Conceived and designed the work: LD. Wrote code: LD and XL. Acquired the data: LQ, RC, XL and DG. Analyzed the data: CL, RY and XL. Wrote and revised the manuscript: LD, XL, LQ and DG. Equally contributing authors: LQ and XL. All authors revised the work for important intellectual content. All of the authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The EEG data used to support the findings of this study are not publicly available due to the unfinished study of the whole project but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the MOST 2030 Brain Project [Grant No. 2022ZD0208500], and the Sichuan Science and Technology Program [2022NSFSC1398, 2021YJ0167].