Abstract
Brain areas activated by three different-genre video games, Racing, Rhythm Action and Tabletop game (Mahjong), were compared in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. Ten right-handed healthy participants performing experiments and analyzed using statistical parametric mapping. The racing game requiring simple planning activated the right prefrontal cortex, and Mahjong, which needs complex planning, activated the bilateral prefrontal cortex. On the contrary, the rhythm action game did not activate the prefrontal cortex. On the other hand, the games of racing and rhythm action, which required real-time responses, activated the right inferior prefrontal cortex. Mahjong, which does not require real-time reactions, did not, however, activate this area. These results indicate that the areas of brain activation while playing different-genre video games depended on the combination of required skills for each game.
