Playing With Neuroscience: Past, Present and Future of Neuroimaging and Games

TL;DR

This paper reviews the intersection of neuroscience and gaming, highlighting how games have advanced research and exploring future potential for neuroimaging and neuroscience applications in gaming.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of current neuroscience and games research and discusses future directions and opportunities in this interdisciplinary field.

Findings

Games have historically driven advances in AI and virtual reality.

Neuroscience research has begun integrating with game design and testing.

Future neuroimaging techniques may enhance understanding of brain functions through gaming.

Abstract

Videogames have been a catalyst for advances in many research fields, such as artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction or virtual reality. Over the years, research in fields such as artificial intelligence has enabled the design of new types of games, while games have often served as a powerful tool for testing and simulation. Can this also happen with neuroscience? What is the current relationship between neuroscience and games research? what can we expect from the future? In this article, we'll try to answer these questions, analysing the current state-of-the-art at the crossroads between neuroscience and games and envisioning future directions.