Video games as stimuli in neuroimaging studies: a minireview

Isak B BlankVasily KlucharevAnna N Shestakova^*

• National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

In video games, the participants are active agents who pursue various goals within gaming environments that increasingly resemble real life. Thanks to this, videogames are increasingly offering tools for neuroimaging studies aiming to elucidate the neural basis of human perceptual, cognitive, and emotional functions. Here, we review these studies. The first studies used computerized versions of behavioral economic games during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of brain activity, revealing brain structures relevant to mutual cooperation and structures responding when participants received unfair offers. Subsequently, first-person shooter games revealed what happens in the brain during winning vs. losing. Video games have also proven useful in the study of reward processing, thoughts during pursuit of goals, and studies of emotional responses grounded in component models wherein active agency is playing a key role. Finally, research on the neural basis of flow state constitutes an example for which video games are especially well suited. We also discuss shortcomings and ways forward in this exciting area of research.