The care and testing of video-game players: Using patterns of performance to provide insight into the effects of video-game experience and expertise.
-
1
The University of Sydney, Department of Philosophy, Australia
-
2
Brain and Mind Research Institute, Australia
-
3
University of Auckland, School of Psychology, New Zealand
-
4
University of Auckland, Centre for Brain Research, New Zealand
-
5
UNITEC Institute of Technology, Department of Osteopathy, New Zealand
Evidence continues to suggest that 'expert' video-game players (VGPs) have enhanced cognitive capabilities - in particular, visuospatial attention. Recently it has been argued that current cross-sectional video-game research results may reflect an expectation effect. Despite these reservations, it is still possible to obtain valuable information about VGPs by analyzing the patterns and biases (or lack thereof) of participant responses. Here we illustrate the value of cross-sectional VGP data by dissecting the behavioral performance of experienced VGPs and non-VGPs on the Simon task. The Simon task involves participants making a task-relevant response to a stimulus (i.e., left-response) while ignoring its location (i.e., right-visual field). A performance cost (Simon effect) occurs when the response and location are in conflict. Fifteen experienced male VGPs and 15 matched non-VGPs participated. Experienced VGPs began playing before the age of 10, had a minimum 8 years' experience and a minimum play time of 20 hours per week over the past 6 months. Non-VGPs reported no video-game play. Overall, experienced VGPs made significantly quicker responses than non-VGPs and displayed a significantly reduced Simon effect. In addition, experienced VGPs showed no performance biases associated with the lateralization of motor initiation and visuospatial attention, showing no asymmetry in hand performance and Simon effect. This was unlike non-VGPs who had superior right-hand performance and greater Simon effect in the right-visual field. Although it is possible that expectation effects underpin experienced VGPs quicker reaction times and reduced Simon effect, it is unable to account for the lack of lateralization. Instead, non-lateralization in experienced VGPs may be attributed to video-game play where success is reliant on rapid, unbiased and coordinated iterations with the in-game world.
Keywords:
Video Games,
cognitive training,
Perceptual Learning,
Expertise,
transfer of training,
Simon effect,
simon task
Conference:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Cognition and Executive Processes
Citation:
Latham
AJ,
Westermann
C,
Patston
LL and
Tippett
LJ
(2015). The care and testing of video-game players: Using patterns of performance to provide insight into the effects of video-game experience and expertise..
Conference Abstract:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00280
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
19 Feb 2015;
Published Online:
24 Apr 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Andrew J Latham, The University of Sydney, Department of Philosophy, Sydney, Australia, 330248@frontiersin.org