Physiological and Cognitive Functions Following a Discrete Session of Competitive Esports Gaming

Amber Sousa; Sophia L Ahmad; Tamzid Hassan; Kyle Yuen; Peter Douris; Hallie Zwibel; Joanne DiFrancisco-Donoghue

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01030

Physiological and Cognitive Functions Following a Discrete Session of Competitive Esports Gaming

Front Psychol. 2020 May 29:11:1030. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01030. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Amber Sousa^{1

2}, Sophia L Ahmad³, Tamzid Hassan³, Kyle Yuen³, Peter Douris⁴, Hallie Zwibel^{1

2}, Joanne DiFrancisco-Donoghue^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY, United States.
² NYIT Center for eSports Medicine, Old Westbury, NY, United States.
³ OMS II, NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY, United States.
⁴ Department of Physical Therapy, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY, United States.

Abstract

Competitive organized electronic video gaming, termed "esports," has become an international industry. The physiological and cognitive health results of prolonged esport practice and competition have not been adequately studied. The current study examined physiological and cognitive changes after a session of esport gameplay for two types of games, first-person shooter and multiplayer online battle arena games. Increases in systolic blood pressure, increases in speed, and decreases in accuracy and inhibitory processes were found for esport gamers overall. For peak heart rate change, first-person shooter games elicited a larger change than did multiplayer online battle arena games. These results have implications for the management of esport player cognitive and physical health as well as for the optimization of performance in competitive esport tournaments.

Keywords: cognition; competitive gaming; esports; executive functions; health.