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Active agency alters functional connectivity in a reach-to-grasp video game

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Shaylyn Kress¹, Jaana Leppala², Chelsea Ekstrand¹, Jody C. Culham²; ¹University of Lethbridge, ²Western University

Human neuroimaging has moved toward increasingly naturalistic approaches (e.g., movie viewing); however, these approaches often treat participants as passive observers rather than active agents. Video games offer a naturalistic option in which the participant actively controls their actions and moment-to-moment outcomes. We tested how agency (one’s control over their own actions) in a video game affected brain networks using a data-driven approach, functional connectivity multivariate pattern analysis (fc-MVPA). During fMRI, participants played a reach-to-grasp video game in which they controlled the virtual arm of a first-person avatar. Three conditions manipulated the presence of agency and motor involvement: PLAY involved both motor control and agency, REACT involved motor control without agency, and WATCH involved neither motor control nor agency. All three conditions involved identical visual stimulation, while PLAY and REACT involved nearly identical motor outputs. The addition of motor control (REACT vs. WATCH) largely affected only the somatomotor network. Interestingly, the addition of agency (PLAY vs. REACT) evoked more distributed whole-brain connectivity differences across the somatomotor, control, dorsal attention, and default mode networks, as well as visual cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum. These results suggest that agency affects sensorimotor feedback loops in cortical and subcortical regions. With our connectivity analysis, we have demonstrated that the key benefit of video game paradigms comes through their ability to increase active agency rather than through simple motor control processes. Video games in fMRI offer a novel approach to study the gamut of brain functions with the participant actively in control of both actions and outcomes.

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Motor control