Neural oscillation amplitude in the frontal cortex predicts esport results

Sorato Minami; Ken Watanabe; Naoki Saijo; Makio Kashino

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106845

Neural oscillation amplitude in the frontal cortex predicts esport results

iScience. 2023 May 9;26(6):106845. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106845. eCollection 2023 Jun 16.

Authors

Sorato Minami¹, Ken Watanabe^{1

2}, Naoki Saijo¹, Makio Kashino¹

Affiliations

¹ NTT Communication Science Laboratories, 3-1, Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan.
² School of Fundamental Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.

Abstract

In competitive matches, strategic decisions and emotional control are important. Relevant cognitive functions and corresponding neural activities in simple and short-term laboratory tasks have been reported. Brain resources are intensively allocated in the frontal cortex during strategic decision-making. The suppression of the frontal cortex with alpha-synchronization optimizes emotional control. However, no studies have reported the contribution of neural activity to the outcome of a more complex and prolonged task. To clarify this issue, we focused on a fighting video game following a two-round first-pass system. Frontal high-gamma and alpha power in the first and third pre-round periods, respectively, were found to be increased in a winning match. Furthermore, inter-participant variations in the importance of strategic decisions and emotional control in the first and third pre-round periods were correlated with frontal high-gamma and alpha power, respectively. Therefore, the psychological and mental state, involving frontal neural fluctuations, is predictive of match outcome.

Keywords: Behavioral neuroscience; Decision science; Neuroscience.