# Cognitive Control and Prefrontal Neural Efficiency in Experienced and Novice E-Gamers

## TL;DR

Experienced e-gamers show more efficient brain activity in tasks requiring focus and strategy shifts compared to novices.

## Contribution

This study reveals prefrontal neural efficiency differences in e-gamers during cognitive control tasks.

## Key findings

- Experienced gamers showed higher prefrontal neural efficiency in updating and shifting tasks.
- Minimal differences were observed in inhibitory control between experienced and novice gamers.
- Findings suggest implications for neuroergonomic performance evaluation in complex environments.

## Abstract

Background: Cognitive control (CC) underpins our ability to maintain task focus, update goals, and flexibly shift between strategies, and it is closely tied to prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity. Electronic gaming (e-gaming), such as the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, is a specialized domain that demands refined CC skills developed over years of practice. Although previous research has demonstrated that PFC hemodynamic activity can effectively evaluate CC in several skilled domains, the impact of prolonged FPS experience on CC and its underlying neural correlates remains unclear. Objectives: In this study, we examined differences in both behavioral performance and PFC hemodynamic responses between 70 novices and 50 experienced FPS gamers (n=120). Methods: We targeted three core CC subdomains—updating, shifting, and inhibition—by employing the Digit–Symbol Substitution Task, Dual Visual Search Task, and Stroop Task, respectively. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based PFC activity was recorded as participants engaged in each task. Results: Experienced gamers showed higher levels of prefrontal neural efficiency for updating and shifting, but minimal differences for inhibitory control. Conclusions: These findings inform neuroergonomic approaches to performance evaluation and may be generalized to other complex, real-world environments that rely on extensive training for skill acquisition.