Exploring the Brain, Emotion, and Personality with Video Games - An appraisal perspective.
Poster No:
722
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Mi Xue Tan1, Joana Leitao1, Dimitri Van De Ville2, Patrik Vuilleumier3
Institutions:
1University of Geneva, Geneva, Geneva, 2École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, 3University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
The nature of emotions and their neural underpinnings remain debated. Here we study whether appraisal theories the component process model may account for the differentiation of emotional states and their functional organisation in the brain. This theory proposes that events are perceived and evaluated according to distinct cognitive dimensions (appraisals) that are key to eliciting the range of emotions we experience. Appraisals trigger changes in behaviour, physiology, and brain activity patterns. Building on a previous study, we manipulated the appraisal of goal obstructiveness during a first-person video game.
Methods:
We developed a stealth game to manipulate appraisals in a systematic yet immersive way. The interactive nature of video games heightens self-relevance through goal-directed action, evoking strong emotions. The goal of the game was to maximise points and avoid enemies in a virtual labyrinth. Goal obstructiveness was manipulated at two levels by varying the number of enemies.
55 participants performed this game while undergoing fMRI (3T Siemens, GE-EPI, TE=31ms, 54 axial slices, TR=720ms, MB factor=4). Behavioural measures i.e. sum of inverse distance to all enemies and player's projected distance were extracted as an indirect measure of goal obstructiveness.The fMRI data were preprocessed using fMRIPrep. Participants completed personality questionnaires, including the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).
We conducted Partial Least Square Correlation (PLSC) analyses to establish links between personality questionnaires and functional connectivity. Functional connectivity matrices were constructed for each level of each behavioural measure. Personality questionnaires with more than three unadjusted raw scores underwent dimensionality reduction.
General Linear Model (GLM) with parametric modulators allowed us to examine brain activation patterns associated with changes in behaviour. The modulated regressor served as the psychological regressor in subsequent Psychophysiological Interaction (PPI) analysis. Functional images were parcellated to derive 400 cortical regions using the Schaefer atlas and 19 subcortical regions from the Human Connectome Project - MultiModal Parcellation atlas. Each of these regions were used as a seed, with each of the remaining regions as targets.
55 participants performed this game while undergoing fMRI (3T Siemens, GE-EPI, TE=31ms, 54 axial slices, TR=720ms, MB factor=4). Behavioural measures i.e. sum of inverse distance to all enemies and player's projected distance were extracted as an indirect measure of goal obstructiveness.The fMRI data were preprocessed using fMRIPrep. Participants completed personality questionnaires, including the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).
We conducted Partial Least Square Correlation (PLSC) analyses to establish links between personality questionnaires and functional connectivity. Functional connectivity matrices were constructed for each level of each behavioural measure. Personality questionnaires with more than three unadjusted raw scores underwent dimensionality reduction.
General Linear Model (GLM) with parametric modulators allowed us to examine brain activation patterns associated with changes in behaviour. The modulated regressor served as the psychological regressor in subsequent Psychophysiological Interaction (PPI) analysis. Functional images were parcellated to derive 400 cortical regions using the Schaefer atlas and 19 subcortical regions from the Human Connectome Project - MultiModal Parcellation atlas. Each of these regions were used as a seed, with each of the remaining regions as targets.
Results:
The PLSC analyses revealed one latent component identified as significant (Figure 1b) through permutation testing, explaining 50% of the covariance. Notably, BDI scores emerged as the most significant contributor to personality score loadings within this latent component.
Activity in the insula, locus coeruleus, periaqueductal grey, and the dorsal attention network typically linked to avoidance, panicking, freezing, and heightened attention were modulated by the sum of the inverse distance to the enemies; whereas brain regions linked to the reward system such as the ventral and dorsal striatum and the medial prefrontal cortex were modulated by the player's projected distance.
The PPI analysis related to the distance to enemies revealed an enhanced connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the somatomotor cortex.The orbitofrontal cortex, typically involved in processing emotional valence, coactivated with the frontoparietal areas in the dorsal and ventral attention networks. PPI results related to the player's distance show increased connectivity of somatomotor and visual areas with prefrontal cortex; while the precuneus, associated with self-referential processing, had heightened connectivity with the visual and dorsal attention networks.
Activity in the insula, locus coeruleus, periaqueductal grey, and the dorsal attention network typically linked to avoidance, panicking, freezing, and heightened attention were modulated by the sum of the inverse distance to the enemies; whereas brain regions linked to the reward system such as the ventral and dorsal striatum and the medial prefrontal cortex were modulated by the player's projected distance.
The PPI analysis related to the distance to enemies revealed an enhanced connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the somatomotor cortex.The orbitofrontal cortex, typically involved in processing emotional valence, coactivated with the frontoparietal areas in the dorsal and ventral attention networks. PPI results related to the player's distance show increased connectivity of somatomotor and visual areas with prefrontal cortex; while the precuneus, associated with self-referential processing, had heightened connectivity with the visual and dorsal attention networks.
·Figure 1. Experimental design and fMRI results.
Conclusions:
The development of our video game allowed systematic and controlled manipulations of appraisals with interactive and first-person experience. A complex interaction between multiple brain networks was observed, whose interconnectivity mediates the integration of cognitive and emotional information in response to self-relevant events, with differential expression associated with individual affective traits.
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Emotional Perception
Emotion and Motivation Other 1
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Executive Function, Cognitive Control and Decision Making
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Activation (eg. BOLD task-fMRI) 2
fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling
Keywords:
Emotions
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Other - Appraisal; Theories of emotion; Video games; Personality
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
Leitão J, Meuleman B, Van De Ville D, Vuilleumier P. Computational imaging during video game playing shows dynamic synchronization of cortical and subcortical networks of emotions. PLoS Biol. 2020 Nov 12;18(11):e3000900. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000900. PMID: 33180768; PMCID: PMC7685507.