ABSTRACT
Introduction: Computer games have attracted remarkable attentions in general publics with different cultures and their effects are subject of research by cognitive neuroscientists. In the present study, possible effects of the game Fifa 2015 on cognitive performance, hormonal levels, and electroencephalographic [EEG] signals were evaluated in young male volunteers
Methods: Thirty two subjects aged 20 years on average participated mutually in playing computer game Fifa 2015. Identification information and general knowledge about the game were collected. Saliva samples from the contestants were obtained before and after the competition. Perceptive and cognitive performance including the general cognitive health, response delay, attention maintenance, and mental fatigue were measured using PASAT test. EEG were recorded during the play using EEG device and analyzed later using QEEG. Simultaneously, the players' behavior were recorded using a video camera. Saliva cortisol levels were assessed by ELISA kit. Data were analyzed by SPSS program
Results: The impact of playing computer games on cortisol concentration of saliva before and after the game showed that the amount of saliva plasma after playing the game has dropped significantly. Also the impact of playing computer games on mental health, before and after the game indicated that the number of correct answers has not changed significantly. This indicates that sustained attention has increased in participants after the game in comparison with before that. Also it is shown that mental fatigue measured by PASAT test, did not changed significantly after the game in comparison to before that. The impact of game on changes in brain waves showed that the subjects in high activity state during playing the game had higher power of the EEG signals in most of the channels in lower frequency bands in compared to normal state
Discussion: The present study showed that computer games can positively affect the stress system and the perceptual-cognitive system. Even though this impact was not significant in most cases, the changes in cognitive and hormonal test and also in brain waves were visible. Hence, due to the importance of this matter, it is necessary to create control systems in selecting the types of games for playing
ABSTRACT
Functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI] has become the most popular method for imaging of brain functions. Currently, there is a large variety of software packages for the analysis of fMRI data, each providing many features for users. Since there is no single package that can provide all the necessary analyses for the fMRI data, it is helpful to know the features of each software package. In this paper, several software tools have been introduced and they have been evaluated for comparison of their functionality and their features. The description of each program has been discussed and summarized
ABSTRACT
A two-variable integrate and fire model is presented to study the role of transient outward potassium currents in producing temporal aspects of dorsal cochlear nucleus [DCN] pyramidal cells with different profiles namely the chopper, the pauser and the buildup. This conductance based model is a reduced version of KM-LIF model [Meng and Rinzel, 2010] which captures qualitative firing features of a detailed physiological model [Kanold and Manis, 2000]. For our development we benefit from transient potassium currents properties i.e. fast activation and slow inactivation to generate long latency before start of firing. We compare our minimal model outputs in response to a hyperpolarizing stimulus fallowed by a depolarizing one with the data of KM-LIF model. The results conform well to the KM-LIF model with lower complexity