Interpersonal Synchrony Protocol for Cooperative Team Dynamics During Competitive E-Gaming

The performance of a team is tightly connected to how well its members communicate and collaborate while working towards shared objectives, a process known as group cognition. In competitive team sports, strategic and efficient coordination between team members often makes the difference between success and failure. Professional e-sport gaming, in particular, requires competitors to engage in quick decision making, strategic thinking, and fast reaction times in order to outmaneuver the opposing team. Interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) is one proposed mechanism by which team members may achieve mutual understanding necessary for successful teaming. However, it is unknown how such measures relate to team performance and how they are affected by gaming environments (in-person vs. remote gameplay). Here, we describe a study protocol aiming to investigate the relationship between inter-individual neurophysiological measures and successful teamwork of two-player teams in Overwatch, a competitive team-based first-person shooter (FPS). The objective of this study design is to relate behavioral and subjective measures of team performance with underlying neural and physiological activity during both in-person and remote sessions of cooperative gameplay.