Cognitive fatigue in habitual video gamers and non-gamers among military pilots in training

Abstract

Background: Military pilots operate in stressful situations that require multitasking and high cognitive demand. Prolonged periods of intense and sustained activities cause cognitive fatigue that leads to impairments in cognitive and physical performance. Frequent action video gaming is associated with enhanced attention and accuracy and could attenuate cognitive fatigue in military pilots in training. Aim: This study investigated the effect of time load dual-back task (TloadDback), an effective method in inducing cognitive fatigue, on cognitive function in habitual video gamers and non-gamers among military pilots in training. Methods: Thirty male student pilots (25 ± 1 years) were divided into those who had habitually played action video gaming (n = 15, gamers) and those who had not (n = 15, non-gamers). All participants performed a psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) and 1-Back tasks before and immediately after cognitive fatigue induced by the TloadDback. Results and Conclusion: After the cognitive fatigue task, subjective fatigue ratings increased significantly in both groups. The reciprocal reaction time and middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCBV) decreased in both groups. The non-gamers’ reaction time during 1-Back significantly reduced (p < 0.05) but increased in gamers. The changes in MCBV were negatively associated with corresponding changes in hemoglobin index (r = –0.599, p = 0.001). In conclusion, cognitive fatigue result in reductions in attention, and cerebral blood velocity in military pilots in training. Habitual gamers demonstrated reduced tolerance to cognitive fatigue than non-gamers presumably through reduced cerebral oxygenation.

Keywords

• video games
• attention
• memory
• cerebral blood velocity
• cerebral oxygenation