Action Video Gaming Enhances Brain Structure: Increased Cortical Thickness and White Matter Integrity in Occipital and Parietal Regions

Background: Action video games—particularly first person shooter (FPS), real time strategy (RTS), multi-player online battle arena (MOBA), and battle royale (BR) titles—have been linked to enhanced visuospatial skills, yet their impact on brain structure remains unclear. Purpose: To determine whether long term exposure to these high speed genres is associated (cross sectional design) with differences in cortical thickness and white matter microstructure. Methods: Structural and diffusion MRI were acquired from 27 video game players (VGPs) and 19 non video game players (NVGPs). FreeSurfer derived cortical thickness and DSI Studio quantitative anisotropy (QA) were compared between groups, covarying for intracranial volume. All p values were Holm–Bonferroni and FDR corrected; bootstrap 95 % CIs are reported. Results: VGPs showed greater cortical thickness in right inferior and superior parietal, supramarginal, and precuneus cortices (ηp² = 0.12–0.21) and higher QA along right SOG–SPL and left SOG–IPL tracts. Conclusions: Frequent action gaming is linked to thicker dorsal stream cortex and stronger occipito parietal connectivity, consistent with experience dependent neuroplasticity. However, causal inference is precluded; longitudinal work is warranted.