Article Education Environmental Sciences Psychology

Effect of positive and negative ions in esports performance and arousal levels

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological effects of arousal levels in esports players during a racing-game under positive and negative ion environments. Participants (10 male) who belonged to the collegiate esports team were recruited. The influences of positive and negative ions were evaluated in a randomized, crossover, and placebo-controlled double-blind design. Each participant completed two experiments within a 4-week interval. Two experimental environments were used: positive and negative ions filled up the atmosphere (PNI), and a control (CON) condition. For the performance task, a car-racing game was adopted. Arousal state was measured by the Two-Dimensional Mood Scale (TDMS) and an electroencephalogram (EEG). Results indicated that the EEG level was significantly higher in PNI than CON condition. Also, the PNI had a significantly higher performance on the gaming task than the CON condition. The present study demonstrated the beneficial effects of positive and negative ion environments on esports players.

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Secondary Publication Education Psychology

An attempt to verify the positive effects of esports

The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between cognitive skill and concentration, based on brain waves measured before and after esports activity. Participants were twenty male collegiate students belonging to an esports club (Mean Age ± 21.40, SD = 1.65). At first, participants were put on a simple electroencephalograph (EEG) and their psychological state at baseline was measured for two minutes. After that, Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT) was conducted to measure their cognitive skill (execution function) before the esports task. In addition, after the esports task, SCWT was conducted again. To examine the degree of concentration during esports task, this study adopted a simple band-type EEG that only measures the Fp1 point as defined by the international 10-20 systems. As a result, this study indicated that cognitive skill (executive function) might be improved before and after esports task, and concentration might appear during esports play.

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