Influence of video gaming experience on motor adaptation during visuomotor and force field perturbations

The capacity for quick and agile motor adaptations can be enhanced through related previous motor experience. This study explores the influence of prior long-term experience in playing action video games on the ability to adapt to novel motor behaviors. We compared motor adaptation between professional video game players, casual players who play video games on a frequent or infrequent basis, and non-gamers. Participants performed a tracking task where they had to adapt to novel visuomotor perturbation and an arm reaching task where they had to adapt to novel force field perturbation. Results showed that experience with action video games enhanced the process of adapting to novel complex visuomotor perturbation during a tracking task. On the other hand, the gaming experience had no effects on the process of adapting to force field perturbation during an arm reaching task. Since the tasks differ in the type of perturbation (and therefore the type of transformation needed for adaptation), the difficulty of perturbation, and the type of movement performed, the exact reason for the difference in the results should be further investigated. However, our results show that everyday experience with gaming can have an effect on the ability to adapt to certain types of novel motor behaviors. Our findings demonstrate the potential of everyday experiences in rehabilitation and training protocols, but highlight the need to consider the specific types of learning required.