In this study, we partnered with the Children’s Museum of Houston (CMH) to investigate the brain dynamics of children playing Minecraft – a creative game that enable players to build 3D constructions using textured cubes in a virtual world. The goal was to investigate the feasibility of assaying the neural responses associated with creative game playing in a museum setting and to identify differences in brain activity as a function of age, gender, and gaming experience. Scalp electroencephalography (EEG) and head motion were acquired using off-the-shelf, low-cost, mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI) technology that limited recording to electrodes in the anterior and the temporal scalp areas.
The aims of this study were:
1) to record and quantify brain responses “in action and in context” as children played Minecraft at the Children’s Museum, thus 2) ensuring a stimulating social environment likely to elicit natural responses from the children otherwise not observed within a laboratory setting; 3) selecting a video game that most children were familiar with, and 4) acquire data from a relatively large number of children with diverse demographics. Our analysis focused on identifying patterns of brain activity observed during Minecraft playing and characterizing the effects of age, gender and skill levels in those spectral patterns.