A player’s behaviour in a game is directly linked to their personality and gives detailed information on their decision making processes, showing how they approach risks, socialisation and problem solving. Analysing these behaviours may also provide information about mental health disorders and indicate how these change over time.

Neuroimaging methods (EEG/MEG/fMRI) can be used to examine the neural responses and patterns of ongoing neuronal activity that occur while players are engaged in a game. By linking these data to modern theories of neural economics we can explore and potentially improve aspects of a player's decision making, such as: attention span, focus, risk taking and delayed reward.

This PhD will use a combination of neuroscience and advanced data analysis methods to examine the link between video game play and the brain. We will use a combination of cutting-edge data analytic techniques applied to  large, existing video game telemetry datasets and neuroimaging experiments designed to measure changes in ongoing mental states while people play simple video games.

The PhD would suit a student with good data analytics skills and some experience in neuroscience.