COGS 300 Paper 1
James MacGregor
Learning, motivation, the brain, and video games
This paper presents an overview of the current understanding of the neurophysiology of
motivation and video games: that is, what's happening in the brain that motivates us to
play (or continue playing) video games. We discuss two subtopics: a) immediate reward
or reinforcement of a particular behavior facilitated by dopamine binding; and b) the role
of learned behavior over time. These two subtopics are of course interrelated. We
extrapolate that dopamine binding via video games can lead to learned behavior over
time, but stay clear of asserting any sort of unequivocal stance on whether video games
are “good” or “bad”.
The neurotransmitter dopamine is part of the brain’s reward system. We do something
pleasurable or challenging, and the brain rewards us with a hit of dopamine. Conversely,
when we become sated (from food, or drink or what have you), the brain shuts down the
dopamine flow. Roy Wise (2004) provides an excellent review of recent research on how
dopamine works with respect to motivation and behavior, particularly between
unconditioned (eg. immediate) vs. conditioned (learned) rewards. These two different
mechanisms he calls the “dopamine hypothesis of reward”, and the “dopamine hypothesis
of incentive motivation”, respectively: the former is salient where a direct stimulus (food,
sex, etc.) is presented, while the latter is salient where more indirect motivation is
considered.
The work that Wise reviews demonstrates that dopamine release can be triggered by
motor tasks, or by solving puzzles. Of interest to us is whether the same motivation
response can be triggered by video games, and more particularly, by action-oriented
games. It makes intuitive sense to assume that playing a repetitive task will result in some
sort of learned behavior over time: regardless of the stimulus, dopamine should be a
factor in modulating motivation for performing a repeated task, and for enabling learning.
In “Functions of dopamine in the dorsal and ventral striatum”, Robbins and Barry (1992)
review the literature examining dopamine and its role in reinforcement- and reward-based
learning, specifically within the dorsal and ventral striatum. Dopamine release in the
ventral striatum is of particular interest, as this area is triggered specifically by rewardrelated stimuli. Generally speaking, the mesolimbic/ventral striatum area must be in
working order in order for dopamine to trigger any sort of reward for some sort of
behavior (natural, such as eating food or having sex, or artificial, as is the case with
taking drugs). Stimuli that trigger a reaction can either be primary/direct stimuli such as
food, or less direct stimuli that have, over time, predicted eventual reward, such as
repeated task completion.
Robbins and Barry do note that there is some potential confusion as to whether dopamine
release is happening in anticipation of (and motivation for) an event, or instead just as
part of the larger behavior (ie. a difference between a response due to appetite or a
response in the act of consumption). This can be controlled against using instrumental
conditioning procedures, in which a rat, for example, must press a lever to retrieve an
award: the appetitive response can be clearly delineated from and measured against the
consummatory response. These kinds of experiments have demonstrated an effective
anticipatory (ie. motivational) dopamine response.
In their landmark article "Evidence for striatal dopamine release during a video game",
M.J. Koepp et al. (1998) demonstrate that striatal dopamine is released while playing a
“goal-directed motor task” video game. In this experiment the “video game” was a tankdriving game that involved collecting flags to level up and gain money. Eight males
participated in two tasks, in random sequence: 1) playing the video game; and 2) staring
at a blank screen. Before the tasks, the participants were injected with Raclopride, a
substance that can be picked up via PET, and is used in assessing dopamine binding.
During both tasks, PET was performed. Activity in the ventral and dorsal striata, areas
identified with goal-directed motor behavior management, was examined. Raclopride
binding was significantly reduced for the video game task, indicating increased binding
of dopamine. Additionally, a correlation between video game performance and decreased
Raclopride binding was observed.
Their results are interesting: the same brain areas that Wise’s review indicates are
important to motivation and learning, along with goal-directed motor behavior
management, are shown to bind dopamine at a significant level; and they also correlate
increased dopamine binding to increased performance levels in the participants. Not only
is dopamine binding in this case an indicator of anticipatory reward/reinforcement: it also
appears to be able to act as a measure of performance.
What is less clear is whether this dopamine response modulates violent or aggressive
learned behavior via video games at all. Klaus and Weber (2006) argue that brain
behavior while playing violent video games closely correlates to "naturalistic behavior"
(that is, brain behavior when interacting with a real-life, dynamic environment) than to
simulation studies – that is, brain behavior while playing video games does not differ
from brain behavior one would see in the “real world”. With some care, the authors
argue, virtual world “study” can pretty closely map to effects in the real world, and can
then presumably have a real effect on how one relates to the real world.
To demonstrate this, the authors tested thirteen experienced male gamers. Gamers played
5 pre-selected rounds of Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror, while an fMRI was recorded.
Two independent coders and a supervisor encoded the extent to which the gamers
interacted violently within the game. Play time fell into the following codes: a)
passive/dead; b) preparation/search; c) potential danger; d) under attack; e) active
fighting. Brain activity between nonviolent (a, b) vs. violent (c, d, e) time, focusing
specifically on ACC structures and amygdala, was evaluated. Brain activations were as
expected, in ACC, temperoparietal junction, cerebellum, precuneous, and various limbic
areas, showing significant activation that correlated to real-world scenarios.
Unfortunately, none of the brain areas discussed in this paper (and other papers reviewed)
directly correspond to the areas where dopamine is most directly implicated – that is, the
dorsal and ventral striatum. (Klaus and Weber did find some activation of the dorsal area,
but did not measure dopamine activation, and did not focus on the area as a significant
part of their study.) Indirectly, however, one could extrapolate that, given that a)
dopamine is an important, active agent in learning and motivation during video game
play; and b) that video game play acts more as “naturalistic” or rehearsal-type behavior
than simulation; and that c) dopamine activation/binding is sure to be a part of this
behavior; then d) there is some sort of relationship here. But some larger questions
remain.
These studies, taken together, do not suggest directly that violent behavior is learned –
only that there is enough evidence to state that video games do result in some form of
unconditioned and conditioned response that corresponds with other motor and behavior
learning that we know. Further, there is some evidence that video games are immersive
enough to act as more “naturalistic”, or perhaps immersive, learning mechanisms than
standard simulations. But to suggest that the evidence to date either confirms or
contradicts any claims around video gaming violence causing real-life violence would be
stretching matters.
References
Koepp, Matthias J., et al. "Evidence for striatal dopamine release during a video
game." Nature 393.6682 (1998): 266-268.
Robbins, Trevor W., and Barry J. Everitt. "Functions of dopamine in the dorsal and
ventral striatum." Seminars in Neuroscience. Vol. 4. No. 2. Academic Press, 1992.
Mathiak, Klaus, and René Weber. "Toward brain correlates of natural behavior: fMRI
during violent video games." Human brain mapping 27.12 (2006): 948-956.
Wise, Roy A. "Dopamine, learning and motivation." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 5.6
(2004): 483-494.