ABSTRACT
Introduction: Electronic Sports (eSports) is a popular and still emerging sport. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) and First/Third Person Shooting Games (FPS/TPS) require excellent visual attention abilities. Visual attention involves specific frontal and parietal areas, and is associated with alpha coherence. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a principally suitable tool to improve cognitive functions by modulation of regional oscillatory cortical networks that alters regional and larger network connectivity. Methods: In this single-blinded crossover study, 27 healthy college students were recruited and exposed to 10 Hz tACS of the right frontoparietal network. Subjects conducted a Visual Spatial Attention Distraction task in three phases: T0 (pre-stimulation), T1 (during stimulation), T2 (after-stimulation), and an eSports performance task which contained three games ("Exact Aiming," "Flick Aiming," "Press Reaction") before and after stimulation. Results: The results showed performance improvements in the "Exact Aiming" task and hint for a prevention of reaction time performance decline in the "Press Reaction" task in the real, as compared to the sham stimulation group. We also found a significant decrease of reaction time in the visual spatial attention distraction task at T1 compared to T0 in the real, but not sham intervention group. However, accuracy and inverse efficiency scores (IES) did not differ between intervention groups in this task. Discussion: These results suggest that 10 Hz tACS over the right frontal and parietal cortex might improve eSports-related skill performance in specific tasks, and also improve visual attention in healthy students during stimulation. This tACS protocol is a potential tool to modulate neurocognitive performance involving tracking targets, and might be a foundation for the development of a new concept to enhance eSports performance. This will require however proof in real life scenarios, as well optimization.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is the most common concomitant symptom in the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC). Such patients often present with subjective fatigue state accompanied by cognitive dysfunction, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. AIM: To explore the effects of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) combined with Baduanjin exercise on CRF, cognitive impairment, and quality of life in patients with CRC after chemotherapy, and to provide a theoretical basis and practical reference for rehabilitation of CRC after chemotherapy. METHODS: Fifty-five patients with CRC after radical resection and chemotherapy were randomly divided into either an experimental or a control group. The experimental group received the intervention of CBT combined with exercise intervention for 6 mo, and indicators were observed and measured at baseline, 3 mo, and 6 mo to evaluate the intervention effect. RESULTS: Compared with the baseline values, in the experimental group 3 mo after intervention, cognitive function, quality of life score, and P300 amplitude and latency changes were significantly better (P < 0.01). Compared with the control group, at 3 mo, the experimental group had significant differences in CRF, P300 amplitude, and quality of life score (P < 0.05), as well as significant differences in P300 latency and cognitive function (P < 0.01). Compared with the control group, at 6 mo, CRF, P300 amplitude, P300 latency, cognitive function and quality of life score were further improved in the experimental group, with significant differences (P < 0.01). The total score of CRF and the scores of each dimension were negatively correlated with quality of life (P < 0.05), while the total score of cognitive impairment and the scores of each dimension were positively correlated with quality of life (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: CBT combined with body-building Baduanjin exercise can improve CRF and cognitive impairment in CRC patients after chemotherapy, and improve their quality of life.
