The Brain Game

By artist Katie Watson in collaboration with researcher Julia Foecker

Digital artworks painted using Procreate app for iPad Pro.

Image 1: Beginner
Image 2: Intermediate
Image 3: Advanced

This series illustrates research into the effects of action video games from a neuroscientific perspective as investigated by Julia Foecker.  

The piece features a video game landscape with a character selection screen where you can choose your avatar. Depending on your level of expertise, you can then choose a typical video game player by looking into the avatar’s brains when selecting them. You can then select an experienced avatar to enter the advanced level, or select a non video game player’s brain which brings you to the beginner mode. 

This artwork is based on research which shows a more efficient recruitment of brain networks in gamers under high task load conditions. Moreover, the artwork represents enhanced mental  rotation skills, attentional capacity and distribution of spatial attention after action video game training.