Über mich
I am Professor of Digital Media & Game Studies at HBK Essen, Germany. My research explores the aesthetics of games and play, combining theoretical and experimental approaches.
Previously, I was Professor of Game Design at Macromedia University (Cologne Campus) and Substitute Professor of Media & Game Studies at the Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences.
In 2022 and 2023, I worked as a Researcher and Project Coordinator for the Horizon Europe project ISEDA (Innovative Solutions for Eliminating Domestic Abuse) at the Cologne Game Lab. The goal of this project was to develop training programs and awareness raising campaigns to combat domestic abuse in Europe. This included an interview simulator to train police officers and social workers on how to conduct interviews with victims.
From 2019 to 2022, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) in Freiburg, Germany, contributing to the EU-funded project VIRTUALTIMES. This project aimed to develop a virtual reality game for diagnosing and treating psychopathologies such as depression and schizophrenia through the manipulation of time perception.
I earned my Ph.D. in 2018 from the Institute of Media Culture and Theatre at the University of Cologne and the Cologne Game Lab. My dissertation, "Time and Space in Video Games. A Cognitive-Formalist Approach", was published by transcript Verlag in 2019.
Before my doctoral studies, I completed degrees in fine arts and audiovisual communications in Córdoba, Argentina. I was also active as a media artist, exhibiting my work in museums and galleries in Argentina and Germany.
Forschungsschwerpunkte
The mental state of play
The aesthetics of play
Definitions of play and games
The temporal aesthetics of video games
Time perception
Games and mental health
Video games as art
Publikationen
- Khoshnoud, S., Alvarez Igarzábal, F., & Wittmann, M. (2026). “Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Flow Experience: An EEG Microstate Analysis,” bioRxiv 2026.05.11.724329; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.11.724329
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F., Comeau, C., Guardiola, E., Johann, C., Tillmanns, K. (Eds.) (2025). Video Games and Mental Health. Perspectives of Psychology and Game Design, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F., Hanson, C. (Eds.) (2025). Time, Play and Games, Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, Special Issue, 17(2).
- Khoshnoud, S., Leitritz, D., Bozdağ, M. C., Alvarez Igarzábal, F., Noreika, V. , & Wittmann, M. (2024). “When the Heart Meets the Mind: Exploring the Brain-Heart Interaction During Time Perception,” Journal of Neuroscience e2039232024 https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2039-23.2024
- Khoshnoud, S., Leitritz, D., Bozdağ, M. C., Alvarez Igarzábal, F., Noreika, V. , & Wittmann, M. (2023). “When the Heart Meets the Mind. Exploring the Brain-Heart Interaction During Time Perception,” bioRxiv 2023.09.20.558404. DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.20.558404 (Preprint)
- Landeck, M., Alvarez Igarzábal, F., Unruh, F., Habenicht, H., Khoshnoud, S., Wittmann, M., Lugrin, J.-L., & Latoschik, M.E. (2023). “Journey through a virtual tunnel: Simulated motion and its effects on the experience of time,” in Frontiers in Virtual Reality 3:1059971. DOI: 10.3389/frvir.2022.1059971
- Aguilar Rodríguez, J., Alvarez Igarzábal, F., Debus, M. S., Maughan, C. L., Song, S. J., Vozaru, M., & Zimmermann, F. (Eds.) (2022). Mental Health | Atmospheres | Video Games. New Directions in Game Research II, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
- Chaumon, M., Rioux, PA., Herbst, S.K. [et al. including Alvarez Igarzábal, F.] (2022). “The Blursday Database as a Resource to Study Subjective Temporalities During COVID-19,” in Nature Human Behavior. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01419-2
- Khoshnoud, S., Alvarez Igarzábal, F., & Wittmann, M. (2022). “Brain–Heart Interaction and the Experience of Flow While Playing a Video Game,” in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience vol. 16. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.819834
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2021). “Art, Video Games, and the Comeback of Human Nature,” in Leonardo Electronic Almanac, MIT Press. (Preprint).
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F., Hruby, H., Witowska, J., Khoshnoud, S., & Wittmann, M. (2021). “What Happens While Waiting in Virtual Reality? A Comparison Between a Virtual and a Real Waiting Situation Concerning Boredom, Self-Regulation, and the Experience of Time,” in Technology, Mind, and Behavior, vol. 2 (2). DOI: 10.1037/tmb0000038
- Rutrecht, H., Wittmann, M., Khoshnoud, S., & Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2021). “Time Speeds Up During Flow States: A Study in Virtual Reality with the Video Game Thumper,” in Timing & Time Perception, vol. 9 (4), pp. 353–376. DOI: 10.1163/22134468-bja10033
- Khoshnoud, S., Alvarez Igarzábal, F., & Wittmann, M. (2020). “Peripheral-Physiological and Neural Correlates of the Flow Experience while Playing Video Games: A Comprehensive Review,” in PeerJ . DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10520
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2020). “Experiencing the Passage of Time in Video Games,” in Proceedings of the 13th International Philosophy of Computer Games Conference.
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2019). “En el Laberinto del Tiempo. El Videojuego y la Evolución de la Narrativa,” in Cuaderno del Centro de Estudios en Diseño y Comunicación de la Universidad de Palermo 98, pp. 37-51.
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F., Debus, M. S., & Maughan, C. L. (Eds.) (2019). Violence | Perception | Video Games. New Directions in Game Research, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2019). Time and Space in Video Games. A Cognitive-Formalist Approach, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2017). “Marshmallows and Bullets,” Clash of Realities (ed.), Clash of Realities 2015/16. On the Art, Technology, and Theory of Digital Games, pp. 217-234, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2017). “Bits to the Big Screen. Zur Filmadaption des Computerspiels Resident Evil,” in Früh, J. (ed.), Film-Konzepte 46: Bernd Eichinger, pp. 90-105, Munich: text + kritik.
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2017). “Predictive Thinking in Virtual Worlds,” in Grabbe, L. C., Rupert-Kruse, P., & Schmitz, N. M. (eds.), Bildverstehen. Spielarten und Ausprägungen der Verarbeitung multimodaler Bildmedien, pp. 189-204, Darmstadt: Büchner-Verlag.
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2016). “The Groundhog Day Effect. Iterations in Virtual Space and a Deictic Paradox,” in Höltgen, S. & van Treeck, J. C. (eds.), Time to Play: Zeit und Computerspiel, pp 225-246, Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch.
- Alvarez Igarzábal, F. (2014). “Video Games as an Art Form. Thoughts on a Recurrent Debate and the Elusive Nature of Art,” in Paidia. Zeitschrift für Computerspielforschung.