The purpose of this study was to compare the hemodynamic changes that occur during Mahjong game play in virtual and real-life settings. Fourteen healthy right-handed men (average age ± standard deviation; 36.7 ± 14.9 years) played: 1) a Mahjong solitaire game on a video console against virtual rivals; 2) a Mahjong game against human opponents without conversation; and 3) a Mahjong game against human opponents with conversation. We measured oxygenated hemoglobin concentration at 44 locations

more »

... both hemispheres during Mahjong game play in each setting using near-infrared spectroscopy. The increase in oxygenated hemoglobin concentration at several locations, including Broca's area, the somatosensory cortex, the somatosensory association cortex, the supramarginal gyrus part of Wernicke's area, the primary and auditory association cortex, the angular gyrus part of Wernicke's area, and the associative visual cortex was greater during game play in the real-life settings than during game play in the video game setting. There were no significant differences during game play in real-life settings without and with conversation. Each cortical area correlated with broad or specific areas. The common correlation areas were found at Angular gyrus part of Wernicke's area of left hemisphere during real-life settings without and with conversation, but not during game play in a video game setting. These results suggest that the brain responds differently to game play in real world and virtual world settings, and indicate that comparison of games played in the virtual world and the real world may be an effective model to enhance understanding of the effects of video game on the brain.