Studying cognition and mental health using video games

电子游戏在认知和心理健康方面有着巨大的研究潜力，以前的研究表明，玩电子游戏可以提高视觉注意力和记忆力。在这里，我们建议使用视频游戏对一种常见的精神疾病（ADHD）进行基础研究，为改善诊断，监测和治疗铺平道路。ADHD通常在儿童时期被诊断出来，其特征是注意力状态维持失败。Vardal等人最近表明，受试者在玩认知参与视频游戏（俄罗斯方块）时在注意力状态（例如，“参与”和“流”）之间切换。这些状态转换可以从行为和神经成像数据中识别。我将在这一发现的基础上，使用一种尖端的神经成像技术（OPM-MEG）来测量患有和不患有ADHD的各种视频游戏玩家的大脑状态。最终目标是利用视频游戏来了解心理健康如何影响人们专注于认知要求高的任务的能力，并有可能开发治疗干预。

Video games have enormous potential for research on cognition and mental health and previous research suggests that playing video games can improve visual attention and memory. Here we propose to use video games to perform basic research into a common psychiatric disorder (ADHD), paving the way for improved diagnosis, monitoring and therapy. ADHD is typically diagnosed in childhood and is characterised by failures of attentional state maintenance. Vardal et al have recently shown that subjects switch between attentional states (for example, 'engagement' and 'flow') while playing a cognitively engaging video game (Tetris). These state switches can be identified from both behavioural and neuroimaging data. I will build on this finding and use a cutting-edge neuroimaging technique (OPM-MEG) to measure brain states in a wide range of video game players with and without ADHD. The ultimate goal is to use video games to understand how mental health impacts people's ability to focus on cognitively demanding tasks and, potentially, to develop therapeutic intervention.