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Frontiers in Psychology· Philip X. Fuchs·· 2 小时前AI 评分22

Frontiers in Psychology 研究专题：电竞选手与休闲玩家的心理幸福感、认知需求与运动控制

Editorial: Psychological well-being, cognitive demands, and motor control in esports athletes and recreational gamers

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Frontiers in Psychology 刊发研究专题，聚焦电竞选手与休闲玩家的心理幸福感、认知需求与运动控制。一项涵盖 89 项研究的范围综述发现，内在动机、自我效能与心理社会技能等积极指标与焦虑等问题并存，但 56.2% 为横断面研究、仅 6.7% 为纵向研究。另有综述识别出 2022 至 2025 年间仅 7 项心理干预研究，涉及接纳与正念取向、应对、唤醒重评与团队干预。

正文

EDITORIAL article

Front. Psychol., 01 October 2026

Sec. Movement Science

Volume 17 - 2026 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1999332

1 Introduction and relevance

Video gaming extends from recreation to organized competition and professional performance. At the high-performance end, esports places substantial cognitive-motor demands on players, including attention, rapid decision-making, cognitive flexibility, and sensorimotor control under pressure (; ). Competitive gaming also produces measurable cardiovascular and autonomic responses, showing that sedentary play can impose relevant psychophysiological demands (; ). These performance demands occur alongside stress, motivation, resilience, sleep, and social processes (; ; ).

The scale and increasing institutionalization of esports () make these issues relevant beyond professional competitors. Mental-health concerns are prominent in esports research, although evidence does not indicate uniformly poorer mental-health or sleep outcomes among esports participants than non-participants (; ). Extended sitting, screen exposure, and demanding training schedules raise broader health concerns (; ). Current evidence favors a conditional rather than uniformly positive or negative view of gaming, with outcomes varying across participation characteristics and individual and environmental factors (; ; ). The central question is increasingly not whether gaming is beneficial or harmful, but for whom, under what conditions, and with what performance–health trade-offs.

2 State of the field

Cross-sectional comparisons report selected perceptual and attention-related advantages among experienced gamers, but training studies show mixed evidence for broader cognitive transfer (; ). These differences may reflect practice, pre-existing characteristics, or both, and their translation to meaningful competitive performance remains unclear ().

Psychological research addresses both mental-health problems and resources associated with well-being in esports. A scoping review of 89 studies () identified positive indicators, including intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and psychosocial skills, alongside anxiety and other mental-health problems, with outcomes varying by player experience, coping strategies, and competitive environment. Yet 56.2% of studies were cross-sectional and only 6.7% longitudinal, limiting conclusions about development over time.

Methodologically, esports research complements questionnaires and cognitive tests with physiological and sensor-based measures. A systematic review () identified 30 studies using heart-rate variability, eye tracking, electrodermal activity, and electroencephalography, combined with machine learning to assess workload, stress, fatigue, expertise, or performance. Small samples, inconsistent validation, limited protocol standardization, and difficulty translating laboratory findings to authentic competition continue to constrain comparability and generalizability (; ; ).

Although limited and heterogeneous, intervention research is emerging around modifiable psychological processes relevant to performance and wellbeing. A scoping review () identified only seven psychological intervention studies published between 2022 and 2025, spanning acceptance- and mindfulness-based approaches, coping, arousal reappraisal, and team-focused interventions. A separate systematic review () identified 12 exercise studies, with more consistent effects for acute cognitive and performance-related outcomes than for chronic interventions or direct esports performance. Overall, intervention evidence remains insufficient for firm conclusions about sustained real-world effects (; ; ).

3 Contributions of the Research Topic

The present Research Topic reflects this more conditional and mechanism-oriented view. Ozdayi et al. link passion, pressure vulnerability, and resilience, while Kilci, Bekir et al. examine cognitive flexibility as an indirect pathway between negative problem orientation and social problem-solving. Kilci, Yonal et al. similarly position cognitive flexibility within the association between computational thinking and creative problem-solving. Lee and Oh extend the psychological scope through conditional pathways linking self-compassion, resilience, self-efficacy, and wellbeing. Cui adds a social dimension by showing that dominance-oriented status motives and gendered traits relate differently to in-game aggression. Together, these studies highlight cognitive, motivational, and social processes that may help explain variation in psychological and behavioral outcomes. As most of these designs are observational, their mediation and moderation models should be interpreted as explanatory association models rather than causal mechanisms.

Other contributions make heterogeneity itself a central finding. Van Ruysevelt et al. show that mental-health differences associated with self-identified neurodivergence vary across competitive tiers. Liu et al. report positive associations between participation in multiplayer online battle arena esports and self-efficacy, social support, and trait sport confidence among individuals with disabilities, alongside U-shaped relationships between daily participation duration and both self-efficacy and trait sport confidence. In over 15,000 professional players, Kang finds no aggregate relative-age effect after accounting for birth seasonality in the general population, while identifying cohort-specific patterns and an indirect association between birth quarter and earnings through debut age. Together, these studies highlight the role of psychological resources to affect adaptation and wellbeing. They also caution against generalizing findings across player groups, participation levels, or developmental contexts and against assuming that greater esports participation necessarily produces greater psychological benefits.

The Research Topic also qualifies broad claims about cognitive and performance benefits and extends into related digital and virtual contexts. Pasescu et al. find no significant associations between gaming frequency and visual or auditory spatial ability, reinforcing caution against universal claims of cognitive benefits. Wang and Sun examine music as a potential regulator of arousal, attention, cognitive load, and rhythmic timing in esports, while emphasizing important boundary conditions and limited direct esports evidence. Outside esports-specific samples, Xie et al. find in a randomized trial that open-skill exercise produced greater improvements in ecological executive function and mobile-phone dependence than closed-skill exercise among adolescents with mobile-phone dependence. Separately, Festino et al. find that non-immersive virtual environments enhanced enjoyment and selected dimensions of flow during cycling without altering exercise performance.

Methodologically, the Research Topic spans surveys, repeated measurement, randomized interventions, ecologically oriented behavioral assessments, large-scale career data, virtual environments, and naturalistic machine-learning analyses. Kadri et al. add an especially naturalistic approach by applying machine learning to brief pre-match voice recordings from professional Counter-Strike communication. Together, the Research Topic connects conventional self-report research with experimental, large-scale, virtual, and naturalistic approaches.

4 Outlook

Three priorities emerge. First, research should move beyond cross-sectional associations toward evidence on causality, development, and modifiability. Theory-driven models should examine how cognitive, motivational, affective, and social processes interact over time rather than treating psychological constructs in isolation (). Longitudinal studies should distinguish characteristics that develop through gaming and esports participation from pre-existing characteristics and reciprocal processes (). Experimental and intervention studies should test modifiable factors and sustained effects on wellbeing, health, participation, and competitive performance rather than only short-term surrogate outcomes (; ; ).

Second, measured constructs need stronger links to real-world functioning. Self-report, cognitive, physiological, digital, and sensorimotor measures should be integrated with objective competitive performance and meaningful health outcomes (; ; ). Research should establish whether these measures explain or predict such outcomes rather than add measurement complexity (; ).

Third, heterogeneity should be treated as a primary research question. Future studies should determine whether relationships differ by competitive level, game genre, developmental stage, participation intensity, and demographic or social context (; ). Consistent definitions and direct subgroup comparisons would improve comparability and identify where domain-specific models are needed. Sensorimotor processes, women, gender-diverse individuals, and non-Western populations remain insufficiently studied (; ; ).

Increasing professionalization also raises questions about sustainable careers. Research and support structures should address dual-career pathways combining competition with education or employment and preparation for post-competitive transitions (; ).

5 Conclusion

The field is moving from broad claims about gaming effects toward a more differentiated performance–health framework. The present contributions reinforce that shift by identifying conditional associations, examining psychological pathways, broadening populations and contexts, and adopting more ecologically relevant methods. The next step is to establish how these relationships develop over time, which are causal, what factors are modifiable, and how changes translate into sustainable performance, health, and participation. More integrated psychological perspective may help clarify how individual characteristics and contextual factors shape these outcomes.

Statements

Author contributions

PF: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AF: Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing. CC: Writing – review & editing. VS: Writing – review & editing.

Conflict of interest

The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

The authors AF, CC, and VS declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Generative AI statement

The author(s) declared that Generative AI was used in the creation of this manuscript. LeapSpace (Elsevier) was used to support literature exploration. ChatGPT (OpenAI; GPT-5.6 Sol) was used to support conceptualization, cross-checking of information, and manuscript writing and revision. All literature selections, interpretations, judgments, and final decisions were made by the author(s), who take full responsibility for the content of the manuscript.

Any alternative text (alt text) provided alongside figures in this article has been generated by Frontiers with the support of artificial intelligence and reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, including review by the authors wherever possible. If you identify any issues, please contact us.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

References

Keywords

competitive performance, human performance, mental health, neurodiversity, player development, psychophysiology, resilience, self-efficacy

Citation

Fuchs PX, Fusco A, Cortis C and Saladino V (2026) Editorial: Psychological well-being, cognitive demands, and motor control in esports athletes and recreational gamers. Front. Psychol. 17:1999332. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1999332

Received

15 September 2026

Accepted

22 September 2026

Published

01 October 2026

Volume

17 - 2026

Edited and reviewed by

Guy Cheron, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Updates

Copyright

© 2026 Fuchs, Fusco, Cortis and Saladino.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Philip X. Fuchs, philip.fuchs@ntnu.edu.tw

Disclaimer

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

来源：Frontiers in Psychology · frontiersin.org

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