Cognitive enhancement in video game players: The role of video game genre

We compare first-person shooter and real-time strategy video game players.Action video games provide differential benefits to cognition depending on genre.Real-time strategy players show superior performance on multiple object tracking.Game mechanics may determine occurrence of specific cognitive enhancements. Several cross-section and training studies have shown that video game play can improve cognitive functions such as visual attention, cognitive control, visual short-term memory, and general processing speed. Unfortunately the replication of these effects is not always successful, even when using similar cognitive tests to measure performance. We investigated an important aspect of this field that has not yet been empirically addressed: the role of video game genre. Our comparison of two video game player groups of specific genres (first-person shooter and real-time strategy) indicates that cognitive abilities (measured by task switching and multiple object tracking) may be differentially enhanced depending on the genre of video game being played. This result is significant as research to this point has focused on "action video games", a loosely defined category that encompasses several video game genres, without controlling for effects potentially stemming from differences in mechanics between these video games. It also provides some evidence for the specificity of video game play benefits as a function of actions performed within the game, which is not in line with a generalized "learning to learn" accounting of these enhancements.

[1]  Bradley C. Love,et al.  Real-Time Strategy Game Training: Emergence of a Cognitive Flexibility Trait , 2013, PloS one.

[2]  D. Alais,et al.  Orientation tuning of contrast masking caused by motion streaks. , 2010, Journal of vision.

[3]  C Shawn Green,et al.  Increasing Speed of Processing With Action Video Games , 2009, Current directions in psychological science.

[4]  Julie I. Cohen,et al.  Effect of action video games on the spatial distribution of visuospatial attention. , 2006, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[5]  Roger W. Remington,et al.  Not so fast: Rethinking the effects of action video games on attentional capacity , 2011 .

[6]  Adam C. Oei,et al.  Are videogame training gains specific or general? , 2014, Front. Syst. Neurosci..

[7]  M. J. Emerson,et al.  The Unity and Diversity of Executive Functions and Their Contributions to Complex “Frontal Lobe” Tasks: A Latent Variable Analysis , 2000, Cognitive Psychology.

[8]  C. S. Green,et al.  Action video game modifies visual selective attention , 2003, Nature.

[9]  Ulman Lindenberger,et al.  Adult age differences in task switching , 2000 .

[10]  B. Hommel,et al.  Action video gaming and cognitive control: playing first person shooter games is associated with improvement in working memory but not action inhibition , 2012, Psychological Research.

[11]  C. S. Green,et al.  Brain plasticity through the life span: learning to learn and action video games. , 2012, Annual review of neuroscience.

[12]  Lana M. Trick,et al.  Multiple-object tracking in children: The "Catch the Spies" task. , 2005 .

[13]  C. S. Green,et al.  Enumeration versus multiple object tracking: the case of action video game players , 2006, Cognition.

[14]  S. Reimers,et al.  Task switching across the life span: effects of age on general and specific switch costs. , 2005, Developmental psychology.

[15]  Graeme J. Kennedy,et al.  Early age-related decline in the effective number of trajectories tracked in adult human vision. , 2009, Journal of vision.

[16]  J. Pratt,et al.  Playing an Action Video Game Reduces Gender Differences in Spatial Cognition , 2007, Psychological science.

[17]  Anders Petersen,et al.  Intensive video gaming improves encoding speed to visual short-term memory in young male adults. , 2013, Acta psychologica.

[18]  A. Kramer,et al.  Can training in a real-time strategy video game attenuate cognitive decline in older adults? , 2008, Psychology and aging.

[19]  Kara J Blacker,et al.  Enhanced visual short-term memory in action video game players , 2013, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.

[20]  Lynette J. Tippett,et al.  Just how expert are “expert” video-game players? Assessing the experience and expertise of video-game players across “action” video-game genres , 2013, Front. Psychol..

[21]  M. Ernst,et al.  The statistical determinants of adaptation rate in human reaching. , 2008, Journal of vision.

[22]  C S Green,et al.  Action-Video-Game Experience Alters the Spatial Resolution of Vision , 2007, Psychological science.

[23]  Greg L. West,et al.  Visuospatial experience modulates attentional capture: evidence from action video game players. , 2008, Journal of vision.

[24]  Daphne Bavelier,et al.  Memory abilities in action video game players , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[25]  Torsten Schubert,et al.  Video game practice optimizes executive control skills in dual-task and task switching situations. , 2012, Acta psychologica.

[26]  D. Simons,et al.  The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control. , 2008, Acta psychologica.

[27]  Fabien Scalzo,et al.  Reducing backward masking through action game training. , 2010, Journal of vision.

[28]  K. Murphy,et al.  Playing video games does not make for better visual attention skills , 2009 .

[29]  Bernhard Hommel,et al.  DOOM'd to Switch: Superior Cognitive Flexibility in Players of First Person Shooter Games , 2010, Front. Psychology.

[30]  Conor V. Dolan,et al.  Source (or Part of the following Source): Type Article Title Age-related Change in Executive Function: Developmental Trends and a Latent Variable Analysis Author(s) Age-related Change in Executive Function: Developmental Trends and a Latent Variable Analysis , 2022 .

[31]  Daphne Bavelier,et al.  The effect of action video game experience on task-switching , 2012, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[32]  Z. Pylyshyn,et al.  What is a visual object? Evidence from target merging in multiple object tracking , 2001, Cognition.

[33]  Walter R. Boot,et al.  Video Games as a Means to Reduce Age-Related Cognitive Decline: Attitudes, Compliance, and Effectiveness , 2013, Front. Psychology.

[34]  Zhanyi Hu,et al.  Rejecting Mismatches by Correspondence Function , 2010, International Journal of Computer Vision.

[35]  Paula J. Durlach,et al.  Effects of Action Video Game Experience on Change Detection , 2009 .