Effects of Media Multitasking and Video Gaming on Cognitive Functions and Their Neural Bases in Adolescents and Young Adults
Abstract
Abstract. The increasing use of digital technology among adolescents and young adults has led to concerns about possible detrimental effects on cognitive and brain functions. Indeed, as reviewed here, according to behavioral and brain-imaging studies, excessive media multitasking (i.e., using different digital media in parallel) may lead to enhanced distractibility and problems in maintaining attention. However, frequent video gaming may be beneficial for the development of working memory, task switching, and attention skills. All these cognitive skills depend on executive cognitive functions. Still scant but gradually cumulating brain-imaging results suggest that the negative effects of frequent media multitasking and the positive effects of frequent video gaming on cognitive skills in adolescents and young adults are mediated by effects on the frontal lobes, implicated in executive cognitive functions and still developing even through early adulthood.
References
2013). The association between media multitasking, taskswitching, and dual-task performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 39(5), 1485–1495. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031208
(2018). Teens, social media and technology 2018. Pew Research Center. http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2018/05/31102617/PI_2018.05.31_TeensTech_FINAL.pdf
(2018). The relationship between media multitasking and attention problems in adolescents: Results of two longitudinal studies. Human Communication Research, 44(1), 3–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/hcre.12111
(2012). Neural bases of selective attention in action video game players. Vision Research, 61, 132–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2011.08.007
(2006). Development of the adolescent brain: Implications for executive function and social cognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(3–4), 296–312. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01611.x
(2008). The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control. Acta Psychologica, 129(3), 387–398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2008.09.005
(2012). Action video game experience reduces the cost of switching tasks. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74, 641–647. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-012-0284-1
(2016). Media multitasking in adolescence. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 23, 1932–1941. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1036-3
(2010). The shallows: How the Internet is changing the way we think, read, and remember. Atlantic.
(2015). Causes, effects, and practicalities of everyday multitasking. Developmental Review, 35, 64–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2014.12.005
(2000). Structural and functional brain development and its relation to cognitive development. Biological Psychology, 54(1–3), 241–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-0511(00)00058-2
(2006). The precuneus: A review of its functional anatomy and behavioural correlates. Brain, 129(3), 564–583. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awl004
(2008). Assessment of executive functions: Review of instruments and identification of critical issues. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 23(2), 201–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acn.2007.08.010
(2021). Association of extensive video gaming and cognitive function changes in brain-imaging studies of pro gamers and individuals with gaming disorder: Systematic literature review. JMIR Serious Games, 9(3), Article e25793. https://doi.org/10.2196/25793
(2019). Altering perception: The case of action video gaming. Current Opinion in Psychology, 29, 168–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.03.004
(2016). Digital games, design, and learning: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 86(1), 79–122. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315582065
(2012). A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games. Computers & Education, 59(2), 661–686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.03.004
(2010). DOOM’d to switch: Superior cognitive flexibility in players of first person shooter games. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, Article 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00008
(2013). Action video gaming and cognitive control: playing first person shooter games is associated with improvement in working memory but not action inhibition. Psychological Research, 77, 234–239. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0415-2
(2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64(1), 135–168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750
(2019). The “online brain”: How the Internet may be changing our cognition. World Psychiatry, 18(2), 119–129. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20617
(2019). Adolescent technology, sleep, and physical activity time in two US Cohorts. Youth & Society, 53(4), 585–609. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X19868365
(1999). Brain development during childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 2(10), 861–863. https://doi.org/10.1038/13158
(2004). Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101(21), 8174–8179. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0402680101
(2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423(6939), 534–537. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01647
(2006). Enumeration versus multiple object tracking: The case of action video game players. Cognition, 101(1), 217–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2005.10.004
(2012). The effect of action video game experience on task-switching. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(3), 984–994. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.12.020
(2015). Mind change: How digital technologies are leaving their mark on our brains. Random House.
(1979). Synaptic density in human frontal cortex – Developmental changes and effects of aging. Brain Research, 163(2), 195–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-8993(79)90349-4
(1997). Regional differences in synaptogenesis in human cerebral cortex. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 387(2), 167–178. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1096-9861(19971020)387:2<167::AID-CNE1>3.0.CO;2-Z
(2010). Task switching in video game players: Benefits of selective attention but not resistance to proactive interference. Acta Psychologica, 134(1), 70–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2009.12.007
(2020). Relationship between media multitasking and functional connectivity in the dorsal attention network. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Article 17992. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75091-9
(2014). Amount of lifetime video gaming is positively associated with entorhinal, hippocampal and occipital volume. Molecular Psychiatry, 19(7), 842–847. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2013.100
(2014). Playing Super Mario induces structural brain plasticity: Gray matter changes resulting from training with a commercial video game. Molecular Psychiatry, 19(2), 265–271. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2013.120
(2019). Effects of computer gaming on cognition, brain structure, and function: A critical reflection on existing literature. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 21(3), 319–330. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2019.21.3/skuehn
(2014). Positive association of video game playing with left frontal cortical thickness in adolescents. PLoS One, 9(3), Article e91506. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0091506
. (2011). The neural basis of video gaming. Translational Psychiatry, 1(11), Article e53. https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2011.53
. (2012). Does media multitasking always hurt? A positive correlation between multitasking and multisensory integration. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19(4), 647–653. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-012-0245-7
(2014). Higher media multi-tasking activity is associated with smaller gray-matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex. PLoS One, 9(9), Article e106698. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106698
(2020). Memory failure predicted by attention lapsing and media multitasking. Nature, 587(7832), 87–91. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2870-z
(2018). Efficient, helpful, or distracting? A literature review of media multitasking in relation to academic performance. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(1), Article 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0096-z
(2019). Computer games in education. Annual Review of Psychology, 70(1), 531–549. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-102744
(2014). Memory abilities in action video game players. Computers in Human Behavior, 34, 69–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.01.018
(2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41(1), 49–100. https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734
(2016). Media multitasking is associated with distractibility and increased prefrontal activity in adolescents and young adults. NeuroImage, 134, 113–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.011
(2017). Gaming is related to enhanced working memory performance and task-related cortical activity. Brain Research, 1655, 204–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2016.10.027
(2018). Neural activity patterns between different executive tasks are more similar in adulthood than in adolescence. Brain and Behavior, 8(9), Article e01063. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1063
(2013). A meta-analysis of executive components of working memory. Cerebral Cortex, 23(2), 264–282. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhs007
(2013). Enhancing cognition with video games: A multiple game training study. PLoS One, 8(3), Article e58546. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058546
(2018). The communications market 2018. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/cmr/cmr-2018/interactive
. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(37), 15583–15587. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0903620106
(2018). 5 facts about Americans and video games. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/17/5-facts-about-americans-and-video-games/
(2013). Effects of video-game play on information processing: A meta-analytic investigation. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20(6), 1055–1079. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-013-0418-z
(2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816
(2018). Action video gaming and the brain: fMRI effects without behavioral effects in visual and verbal cognitive tasks. Brain and Behavior, 8(1), Article e00877. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.877
(2015). The developing brain in a multitasking world. Developmental Review, 25, 42–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2014.12.006
(2013). Who multitasks and why? Multi-tasking ability, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. PLoS One, 8(1), Article e54402. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054402
(2019). Media multitasking, impulsivity and dual task ability. Computers in Human Behavior, 92, 160–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.11.018
(2018). Social media use in 2018. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018
(2014). Information technology in education: Risks and side effects. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 3(3–4), 81–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2014.09.002
(2012). Video game practice optimizes executive control skills in dual-task and task switching situations. Acta Psychologica, 140(1), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.02.001
(2000). Executive functions and the frontal lobes: A conceptual view. Psychological Research, 63(3), 289–298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004269900007
(2018). Minds and brains of media multitaskers: Current findings and future directions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(40), 9889–9896. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611612115
(2016). Media multitasking and memory: Differences in working memory and long-term memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 23(2), 483–490. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0907-3
(2015). The consequences of media multitasking for youth: A review. Computers in Human Behavior, 53, 204–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.06.035
(2020). Exploring the long-term relationship between academic-media multitasking and adolescents’ academic achievement. New Media & Society, 22(1), 140–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819861956
(2019). A coordinate-based meta-analysis of the n-back working memory paradigm using activation likelihood estimation. Brain and Cognition, 132, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2019.01.002
(2013). Media multitasking predicts unitary versus splitting visual focal attention. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(7), 889–902. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.835315
(2015). A look at task-switching and multi-tasking behaviors: From the perspective of the computer usage among a large number of people. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 237–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.03.012
(2019). Orbitofrontal gray matter deficits as marker of Internet gaming disorder: Converging evidence from a cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal design. Addiction Biology, 24(1), 100–109. https://doi.org/10.1111/adb.12570
(