Caffeine improves the shooting performance and reaction time of first-person shooter esports players: a dose-response study

Ethan J Rogers; Michael G Trotter; Daniel Johnson; Ben Desbrow; Neil King

doi:10.3389/fspor.2024.1437700

Caffeine improves the shooting performance and reaction time of first-person shooter esports players: a dose-response study

Front Sports Act Living. 2024 Jul 10:6:1437700. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1437700. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Ethan J Rogers¹, Michael G Trotter², Daniel Johnson³, Ben Desbrow^{4

5}, Neil King¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
² Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
³ School of Computer Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
⁴ School of Health Sciences and Social Work, Griffith Health, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
⁵ Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.

Abstract

Caffeine is recognized as one of the most effective dietary ergogenic aids in sports, yet its evidence-based effectiveness in esports is unclear. This study investigated the effects of two different doses of caffeine on the shooting performance and reaction time of 24 first-person shooter (FPS) esports players (22 men, 2 women; age = 22.29 ± 2.91 years). Participants completed three experimental trials in which they consumed either a water control (CON), a 1 mg·kg^-1 BM (CAF1) or a 3 mg·kg^-1 BM (CAF3) dose of caffeine. Performance measures (e.g., score, accuracy (%), hit rate (hits/sec), and shots fired) were assessed in a static clicking and reactive tracking style task on the KovaaK's FPS aim trainer. Reaction time was used to assess vigilance on the psychomotor vigilance test (PVT). Performance was measured at four time points in each trial: pre-treatment (PRE), 60 min (POST1), 80 min (POST2), and 100 min (POST3) post-treatment. Significant differences were identified using repeated-measures analysis of variances. Caffeine, irrespective of dose, significantly improved performance compared to CON for static clicking score and hit rate, reactive tracking accuracy, and reaction time on the PVT. Significant interactions between treatment and time were identified and post hoc analyses showed that compared to CON, CAF1 significantly improved static clicking score at POST1 and POST3, static clicking hit rate at POST1, reactive tracking accuracy at POST1, POST2, and POST3, and reaction time on the PVT at POST1 and POST2. Post hoc analysis also showed that compared to CON, CAF3 significantly improved static clicking score, reactive tracking accuracy, and reaction time on the PVT at all time points, in addition to static clicking hit rate at POST1 and POST3. In summary, caffeine supplementation enhances the shooting performance and reaction time of FPS esports players.

Keywords: caffeine; esports; esports performance; first-person shooter (FPS); reaction time; video game.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.