Positive consequences of action-video game experience on human cognition: Potential benefits on a societal level Tilo Strobach 1 & Torsten Schubert 1 1 Humboldt University Berlin, Germany Running Head: Action-video gaming and cognitive consequences * Corresponding author Tilo Strobach Humboldt University Berlin Department of Psychology Rudower Chaussee 18 12489 Berlin Germany Email: tilo.strobach@hu-berlin.de Phone: +49 (0) 30 2093 4911 Fax: +49 (0) 30 2093 4912
Abstract Playing video games is a popular activity in our today s societies, illustrated by the large number of people playing these games on the one hand. On the other hand, laboratory research has demonstrated the positive effects of video game experience. In particular, persons with pronounced experience in games of the action game genre demonstrated positive effects in contrast to persons with no such experience. These positive effects are mainly illustrated by the former group s improved performance in aspects of perceptual and attentional processing as well as executive functioning. Given the popularity of action video gaming in our societies, we give a review of positive effects of action gaming in the context of laboratory studies and speculate about the transfer of these effects on a societal level. This transfer is realized by making analogies from practical and applied implications of video game studies to a more global context beyond researcher s laboratory. - 2 -
The present chapter summarizes the effects of severe video game experience (in particular, experience with action video games) on perception, attention, and higher cognitive functions such as executive control. Typically, these effects appear as improved processing and functioning of individuals cognitive system. Therefore, in the current article we associate video gaming with positive effects and consequences for the cognitive system. To emphasize this perspective, we illustrate potential benefits of video game experience and its positive effects on the human cognitive system on a more global, societal level for the first time in video gaming research. That is, we report findings that illustrate effects of action video gaming beyond the perspective of basic cognition research, for example effects pointing to positive effects of video gaming on cognitive systems of older individuals (i.e., a developmental perspective), on pedagogical issues, human factors, and others. Recent research has shown that brain organization and cognitive functioning can be influenced by continuous practice and experience. That is, daily participation, practice or training in particular actions, activities or professions may modify the functioning of specific brain structures, mental processes, and behavior. For instance, studies that explored cognitive characteristics in people with musical training compared to people with no such training showed that the former group outperformed the latter one on tests tapping on verbal, visual spatial, and numeracy skills (Schellenberg, 2004, 2006). Accordingly, morphological brain differences in motor and auditory-related structures were also found in music trainees compared to non-trainees (for a review, Habib & Besson, 2009). Alternative investigations have shown an effect of the specific requirements of particular professions on the morphology of the brain and its functioning. For instance, Maguire, Woollett, and Spiers (2006) showed that London taxi drivers have greater gray matter volume in the midposterior hippocampi than London bus drivers. The authors argued that this difference is so because of the association of this hippocampal region with spatial knowledge, which is critical for efficient and autonomous taxi navigation, but is so less for bus driving. - 3 -
According to the aforementioned assertion, a number of studies aimed at specifying the brain organization and cognitive functioning of experts with intense experience in video games as well as the effects of playing these games in a laboratory context. Basically, these studies provided evidence for such effects in numerous transfer test situations (see for specific examples below). A fundamental premise of the present work is that we assume that these effects on brain organization and cognitive functioning do not only appear in specific subgroups of professionals or experts (such as participants in musical training studies or taxi drivers). In fact, such effects should be realized in a large number of individuals in our societies. This assumption results from the fact that, in contrast to the low number of people in specific subgroups, a large number of people perform video gaming in an extensive manner. In detail, the Essential facts about the computer and video game industry report stated that 58 % of the US Americans play video games and the average US household owns at least one device for playing these games (i.e., PC, game console or smartphone; ESA, 2013). Similarly, 25 million German adults play computer or video games several times a month (and 76% of the youth generation aged 14 to 19 years). Thus, these frequent players represent about one third of the total German adult population and this third is characterized by a relatively equal distribution according to gender, education, or income (BIU, 2012). Thus, there is a huge amount of people in various society segments and classes that has intense experience with video games. In other words, our societies are built of individuals with intense experience in video gaming, particularly characterized by effects on brain organization and cognitive functioning. Based on this assumption, one may speculate that video gaming has consequences not only on an individual level (i.e., effects on brain organization and cognitive functioning). In addition, there might be consequences of mental states of subjects on a global, societal level. In line with this view, we illustrate the potential effects of video gaming on a societal level by presenting exemplary analogies of how video games can be used from an application-related - 4 -
perspective. We take this applied perspective to demonstrate the potential benefit and impact of playing action video games given that these games are performed by a large number of individuals. For example, a careful analysis demonstrated the pedagogic efficiency and utility of commercial video games (Tannahill, Tissington, & Senior, 2012). Depending on the specific game and the educational context, these games may have general motivation effects or effects that increase the general level of cognitive stimulation and activity. On an intellectual level, game experience may improve system thinking including the enhanced combination of multiple concepts and/ or introduce failures as a new learning device. This set of typical effects of different video games may offer benefits for learning mechanisms and increase the efficiency of educational system alike. Nevertheless, a summary of effects of video gaming on cognitive and neuronal functioning is required to give an overview and specification of potential societal advantages of this type of activity. In the following review, we will particularly discuss studies that investigate the effects on cognition and its functioning that occur as a result of video game experience with games of the action game genre. In games of this genre, players often have to respond quickly to sudden appearances of stimuli among distracters (with an emphasis on peripheral processing), track and act on many fast moving objects, manage multiple tasks simultaneously or in close succession (Hubert-Wallander, Green, Sugarman, & Bavelier, 2011), with extraordinary action speed (Green, Li, & Bavelier, 2009). The first-person shooter (FPS) game is probably the most prevalent type of game in this genre (exemplary FPS games are Halo, Medal of Honor, Counter strike or Call of Duty), accompanied by third-person shooters (e.g., Grand Theft Auto). Alternative genres of video games, such as strategy or role-playing games are not generally thought to lead to the changes in various functional aspects, due to their overall slower pace and more static visual environments (Spence & Feng, 2010). In line with this assumption, studies have shown, for example, that visual attention remains unchanged after training on strategy games (Boot, Kramer, Simons, Fabiani, & Gratton, 2008). Of course, we - 5 -
do not suggest that other types of games such as action games should have no cognitive effect at all (Bavelier, Green, Pouget, & Schrater, 2012). However, their potential effect on a number of functions (e.g., attention, perception) and its magnitude make action video games the most prominent candidate to promote individual cognitive as well as societal changes. Thus, the following sections review consequences of action video game experience on visual perception, visual attention, and executive functions (for an overview, see Table 1). Importantly, we primarily take a perspective on healthy individuals in these following sections. This perspective, however, does not exclude potential benefits of action-game experience in non-healthy populations and in a therapeutic context and we will come back to a clinical perspective in the reminder of this chapter. Further, our cognitive perspective on consequences of action-video games on a societal level does not exclude potential effects in different perspectives such as effects on motor abilities (Blumen, Gopher, Steinerman, & Stern, 2010) or social abilities (Kowert, & Oldmeadow, 2013). These perspectives, however, go beyond the scope of the present work since the associated phenomena are different from the ones of the present (primary cognitive) perspective. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please, insert Table 1 here ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visual perception In the area of visual perception, habitual players of action video games, in contrast to non-gamers, are characterized by differences in spatial resolution of visual processing across the visual field (Green & Bavelier, 2007), contrast sensitivity (Li, Polat, Makous, & Bavelier, 2009), and temporal dynamics (Li, Polat, Scalzo, & Bavelier, 2010); habitual players are typically defined as persons with a mean game experience of six, ten or more hours a week. For instance, to determine the spatial resolution of visual perception, Green and Bavelier - 6 -
(2007) assessed the smallest distance a distractor can have from a target without compromising target identification (i.e., crowding acuity). The tolerance of target-disctractor distance was improved in action video gamers (i.e., these gamers tolerated smaller distances), indicating an enhanced visual processing. This enhanced processing was not only present at central locations of the visual field but also in its periphery (i.e., at an eccentricity of 10 and 25 ) demonstrating effects on visual processing well within and just at the limits of the field of view of normal game playing. At this point, it is important to state that perceptual differences between video game experts and non-experts may allow for only limited conclusions on the causality of these differences. Potentially, experts enhanced perceptual processing does not result from their game experience. In contrast, this enhancement comes from the fact that these people become action gamers because they have the type of perceptual abilities to excel at action video games and these abilities are independent from gaming experience, i.e. person-inherent factors or third factors that might influence perceptual abilities and gaming simultaneously (Boot, Blakely, & Simons, 2011; Kristjánsson, 2013). In addition, situational factors such as different expectation and motivation levels during testing may have an impact on differences between performance in different subsamples (e.g., experts and non-experts) Therefore, in the context of crowding acuity, two groups of non-gamers were tested on this perceptual skill after training of different video games (Green & Bavelier, 2007); such a training protocol is able to establish a causative relation between action video gaming and enhanced visual processing. While one training group performed the action video game Unreal Tournament 2004 for a total of 30 hr, a second group trained the puzzle game Tetris for the identical amount of time. In Tetris, players rotate and move blocks descending from the top of a computer screen so that these blocks form lines at the bottom of the screen. This game contains a moderately challenging visuo-spatial component involving mental rotation processes in working memory (Okagaki & Frensch, 1994; Sims & Mayer, 2002); however, it - 7 -
requires focusing on only one task and one object at a time in a perceptually non-demanding environment. Tetris, therefore, was not expected to improve perception skills in the way of an action video game (such as Unreal tournament 2004) and thus typically represents an excellent control condition for general motivational effects. In fact, Tetris training did not change spatial resolution of visual perception while training on Unreal tournament 2004 enhanced the resolution (independent of eccentricity), indicating a causative relation between action-video game playing and spatial resolution. Similarly, action video games are efficient tools to enhance the ability to detect small increments in shades of gray on a uniform background (i.e., contrast sensitivity; Li et al., 2009). In detail, action video gamers were more accurate in identifying low-contrast Gabor patches (i.e., stimuli including a sinusoid in a Gaussian envelope) in comparison to nongamers. Again, a causative relation between action video gaming and this enhanced contrast sensitivity was demonstrated by increased identification accuracy in non-gamers after 50 hr of action video game training; there was no such increase after training of a strategy game. Interestingly, the gamer vs. non-gamer difference as well as the training effect exclusively appeared on peripheral locations of the visual field but not in its center. Nevertheless, this peripheral advantage in gamers and the non-gamers practicing an action game was robust over time, i.e. after short and long presentation intervals and integration times. Candidates for mechanisms that explain this enhanced contrast sensitivity as a resulting action game experience may include sharpening, gain enhancement, or template retuning of the visual system. Temporal dynamics of basic visual skills and effects of action video game playing were further investigated in the context of Gabor patch identification tasks (Li et al., 2010). In these tasks, patches were preceded or followed by contrast masks. While experts in action video games demonstrated similar accuracy in detecting Gabor patches with preceding masks (forwards masking) when contrasted with non-experts, the former group demonstrated - 8 -
enhanced identification of patches followed by masks (backward masking). Such backward masking effect may primarily result from changes in the dynamics of the cortical network, but less of peripheral, eye-related, early sensory input factors. The causative relation between changes in the cortical network and expertise in action video games was established after training of non-experts in the actions games Call of Duty 2 or Unreal tournament 2004 versus training on the strategy game The Sims 2: Exclusively action game training, but no strategy game training, resulted in a better identification of Gabor patches followed by contrast masks, i.e. changes in backward masking. In sum, a number of well-proven findings demonstrates positive effects of action video game playing on basic visual perception skills of subjects. In general, these findings contrast beliefs according to which screen time is assumed to be bad for eyesight (Bavelier et al., 2012; Li et al., 2009). Further, effects on a societal level may come from the benefit of enhanced visual perception in the context of clinical practice when treating deficits of the central nervous system such as amblyopia and stroke participants (Achtman, Green, & Bavelier, 2008; Levi, 2012; Li et al., 2009) by fostering brain plasticity. Thus, action video game experience may compensate for optical and retinal deficits by retraining the visual cortex. As a consequence, the cognitive system can make a better use of received information. Training with action games therefore promises to become a useful complement to eyecorrection techniques that are used in a clinical and therapeutic context to improve eyesight (Li et al., 2009). In fact, applying action-video game training in therapy of adult amblyopia patients leads to enhanced low-level visual functions such as visual acuity and positional acuity (Li, Ngo, Nguyen, & Levi, 2011). Obviously, this type of therapy is less expensive and less risky than such eye-correction techniques (e.g., surgeries). Furthermore, it is possible that enhanced visual perception after action gaming is beneficial for car driving and can, in extreme cases, make a difference between near crash and crash situations. For instance, a better ability to detect small increments in shades of gray (Li - 9 -
et al., 2009) can help to better discriminate relevant shapes under unfavorable weather conditions. This better discrimination may even lead to faster detection of traffic obstacles (e.g., persons on street, other cars) and, as a consequence, to a faster initiation of brake actions which may help to prevent crashes and to increase traffic safety. In sum, from a societal perspective, perceptual effects of action video gaming thus can have beneficial effects for the clinical field (e.g., amblyopia) and safety in traffic. Visual attention It has been shown that action video gaming enhances the spatial distribution, spatial selectivity, capacity, temporal resolution, efficiency, and top-down guidance of attention. Further, it positively affects visual search. For example, when identifying the appearance of a peripheral target at different levels of eccentricity (i.e., the useful field of view task), experts in video gaming outperformed non-experts (Green & Bavelier, 2003, 2006a; Wu, Cheng, Feng, D'Angelo, Alain, & Spence, 2012). Furthermore, when asked to identify a central target shape (e.g., diamond or square), the congruency to a peripheral shape (e.g., congruent centralperipheral shapes: diamond & diamond; incongruent central-peripheral shapes: diamond & square) affects this identification in action video gamers in contrast to non-gamers (Green & Bavelier, 2006a). These effects in gamers are thought to demonstrate the greater spatial distribution of the attentional field in video gamers and it may result from a top-down enhancement of spatial selective attention via inhibition of distracters (Jäncke & Klimmt, 2011; Mishra, Zinni, Bavelier, & Hillyard, 2011; Wu et al., 2012). In addition to indicate the greater spatial distribution of attention, an effect of the central-peripheral shape congruency is an indicator for an increase in attention s capacity (Erikson & Erikson, 1974; Green & Bavelier, 2003). This capacity is also demonstrated by improved subitizing in action gamers: Subitizing is a phenomena occurring when subjects are asked to enumerate objects presented in the - 10 -
environment or on the display of a computer experiment. Two different modes of the counting process can be distinguished in psychology: the counting mode, when subjects count each individual object one by one, is required when more than three to four objects have to be enumerated; subitizing allows to gasp the number of objects at once, i.e. not by counting one by one. Thus, when asked to report how many items are presented in a briefly flashed display, the number of items processed with an automatic subitizing operation mode is increased in action video game experts. Thus, in these experts, the number of these subitized items that can be processed at once is increased to about five, so is the capacity of their attention system (Green & Bavelier, 2003, 2007). This finding was impressively supported in the context of the multiple object tracking (MOT) task: Action video gamers were able to successfully track approximately the double number of moving objects than non-gamers. These demonstrations of an increased capacity of visual attention point to action games potential to enhance different aspects of visual short-term memory which could be (1) the increased capacity of this memory type, (2) the durability of its traces, and/ or (3) the speed of cycling through these memory traces (Green & Bavelier, 2007). Potentially, these options are completed by a greater perceptual sensitivity making more information available in visual memory buffers (Appelbaum, Cain, Darling, & Mitroff, 2013). The speed assumption (i.e., the speed cycling through memory traces) is a potential hypothesis about an underlying mechanism, which allows us to explain higher resolution of temporal characteristics of attention in experts of action video games (plus a fast switch between different target stimuli). In detail, this higher temporal resolution was demonstrated in the context of the attentional blink paradigm in which participants have difficulties reporting a second target stimulus when it appears a few hundred milliseconds after a first target stimulus in a stream of distracters (e.g., identification of a white first letter and the detection of a second black X in a stream of black letters; Green & Bavelier, 2003). - 11 -
However, the difficulty war reduced in a group of action game experts when compared with non-experts pointing to enhanced temporal resolution of visual attention in the former group. The observations of advantages of action video gamers compared to non-gamers in various aspects of spatial distribution, spatial selectivity, capacity, and temporal resolution of attention are not only of correlational in nature. The causality between action video gaming and these advantages was demonstrated for each aspect (Green & Bavelier, 2003, 2006a, 2006b, 2007; Wu et al., 2012) in a number of lab-based training regimes, i.e. non-gamers showed enhancements in these aspects after action-video game training in contrast to training of a non-action game. However, in contrast to this impressive number of findings of positive effects of action gaming on spatial distribution, spatial selectivity, capacity, and temporal resolution of attention, there is research providing no support for these effects (e.g., Boot et al., 2008). One reason for the discrepancy in findings between studies with positive effects and that of Boot et al. may be the number of administered transfer tests: In fact, Boot et al. assessed transfer effects in attention in a comprehensive battery of 12 different tests, accompanied by tests on executive control and working memory. This amplified number of tests in the Boot et al. study could have prevented transfer effects after video game training (Strobach, Frensch, & Schubert, 2012a). This is so, because mental effort in one transfer test may undermine the efforts in later tests (Schmeichel, 2007). Correspondingly, aftereffects of these transfer tests may have harmed the occurrence of possible performance differences between a group of action video game experts and a group of non-experts in the Boot et al. study (similarly, these aftereffects could harm action game training effects in non-gamers). In studies with positive effects, the authors typically conduct only small numbers of transfer tests, so possible aftereffects on the performance between these tests were small and transfer effects were expressed. In addition to the large number of transfer tests, the study of Boot et al. conducted these tests before training (i.e., pre-test), after the first ten hours of training and after the end - 12 -
of training (i.e., 21 training hours, post-test). This triple conductance of transfer tests may have resulted in training effects on these tests that masked significant transfer effects in this study. In the context of visual attention, the speed of processing of demanding complex displays and tasks was tested with visual search paradigms (Castel, Pratt, & Drummond, 2005; Hubert-Wallander et al., 2011; Wu & Spence, 2013). In these paradigms, participants are asked to search a display for a target letter (i.e., d or b ) among distracters letters, for instance (Castel et al., 2005). Depending on the character of the set of distracter letters, searches were easy (distracter letter k ) or hard (distracter letters p, y, g, j, l, & h ). While action video gamers were faster under both easy and hard conditions, they were so for a constant relation (i.e., reaction time advantages were similar under the easy and hard conditions for the action video gamers). This constant relation rather points to constant search rates in action video game experts and non-experts. This finding resulted in the speculation that action video gaming may change the speed of processes that map stimulus information to the response (i.e., stimulus-response mapping processing) rather than visual attention per se. However, other authors could demonstrate the observation of faster search rates in action video gamers by applying more diagnostic search paradigms (Hubert-Wallander et al., 2011). In fact, the hard conditions of Castel et al. (2005) were presented until participants response (to measure response times) or were presented for short amounts of time (to measure accuracy for visual attention and in the absence of motor or postdecisional processes). Under both conditions, action video gamers demonstrated better search performances and, more importantly, this performance resulted from faster search rates; thus, advantages of action game experts in visual-search paradigms are rather attention-related. This conclusion was supported by two other studies. First, action gamers outperformed non-gamers when investigating visual spatial attention and its skills in classical visual search situations (Wu & Spence, 2013): Simple pop-out search and more complex - 13 -
conjunction search (Treisman & Gelade, 1980; Wolfe, 1994). Evidence of increased differences in search slopes in action video gamers and non-gamers with increase in search complexity supported the assumption of advanced visual attention in the first group. Importantly, this advantage was causally related with action-game experience since a similar result pattern was demonstrated after action-game training in non-gamers (Wu & Spence, 2013). Second, the psychophysical assessment tools of whole-report and partial-report in the context of the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA; Bundesen, 1990, 1998; Bundesen, Habekost & Kyllingsbæk, 2005) deliver, from the same set of trials, a variety of perceptual and attentional parameters that characterize the individual visual performance of a given participant. Essential for the present context is evidence for an advantage of action gamers on a parameter indicating the processing speed of visual attention (Wilms, Petersen, & Vangkilde, 2013). What are the potential benefits of advanced visual attention skills as a result of actionvideo game experience beyond the laboratory context? That is, what are applied and potential societal consequences? For example, it has been shown that flight training accompanied by training on a complex, fast-paced action-like game leads to better performance in Air Force test flights (Gopher et al., 1994). The authors have shown that playing this game resulted in an efficient control and management of attention particularly under conditions of high cognitive load that can be generalized to new situations of flying. This efficiency can lead (1) to an increase in aviation safety with decreasing flying-related risks and (2) in reduced costs for pilot training and schools. Similar effects may potentially evolve in alternative areas related to training in controlling (complex) technical systems such as helicopters, ships, and cars (i.e., driving schools). These aspects have clear societal advantages when improving safety and reducing the load on public budgets; for instance, the reduced budget loads may result from reduced costs in pilot training. - 14 -
From the perspective of situation awareness (i.e., the understanding needed to operate a technical system in a rapidly changing task environment; Durso, Rawson, & Girotto, 2007), its maintenance requires perceiving task-relevant information, comprehending this information in light of current processing goals, and projecting the status of the system into the near future. In most cases where human error is identified (e.g., in aviation), the problem arises from the operator s failure to maintain situation awareness. However, it is possible that playing action games can improve this awareness by minimizing the likelihood that operators focus or narrow attention to only a subset of information. Playing such games can thus serve as an inexpensive training tool for enhancing attention capacity (Ciappe, Conger, Liao, Caldwell, & Vu, 2013). Executive functioning Executive functions can be loosely defined as the set of general purpose mechanisms that modulate the operation of various cognitive subprocesses and regulates the dynamics of cognition (Miyake & Friedman, 2012; Miyake, Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, & Howerter, 2000; Verhaeghen, 2011). The dominant instances or types of executive functions are shifting, inhibition, and updating. The current literature shows heterogeneous effects of action video gaming on executive functions. For example, testing the behavioral impulsivity of video gamers, their response inhibition in a stop-signal paradigm (i.e., stopping performance) was not faster than that inhibition performance in non-gamers (Colzato, van den Wildenberg, Zmigrod, & Hommel, 2013); thus, experience in action games is potentially not affecting impulsivity (and the executive function inhibition). When testing the efficiency of working memory updating, action-video gamers however showed a trend for advanced performance (Colzato et al., 2013). Furthermore, there was no evidence for an action-game training effect on working memory updating in non-gamers and, thus, no evidence for a causal relationship between action-video gaming and this function (Boot et al., 2008). Nevertheless, the study of - 15 -
Boot et al. also demonstrated no advantage of action gamers/ no action-game training effect of non-gamers on other measures of executive functioning and attention (in contrast to numerous other studies, see above) which questions the reliability of this study. Gamers advantages and training effects on executive functions alternative to updating were however proven by a number of other studies. For example, persons with action-video game experience demonstrate a higher cognitive flexibility as measured by the task switching paradigm (Colzato, van Leeuwen, van den Wildenberg, & Hommel 2010; Glass, Maddox, & Love, 2013; Green, Sugarman, Medford, Klobusicky, & Bavelier, 2012; Karle, Watter, & Shedden, 2010; Strobach et al., 2012a). In detail, performance costs to switch between different sequential tasks are reduced in action gamers in contrast with non-gamers. This reduction is evident in rather traditional paradigms with manual responses (e.g., Kiesel et al., 2010; Monsell, 2003), with auditory responses, rather cognitive than perceptual tasks, and switches between different goals (Green et al., 2012). It may reflect optimized implementation processes to activate the task set of an upcoming task (e.g., Rogers & Monsell, 1995; Rubenstein, Meyer, & Evans, 2001) and/ or a reduced inhibition of this task through the task set of a previous task (e.g., Allport, Styles, & Hsieh, 1994; Mayr & Keele, 2000; for a combined approach see Monsell, 2003; Strobach, Liepelt, Schubert, & Kiesel, 2012b) in general. Importantly, Strobach et al. demonstrated that experience with action games can have a causal effect on cognitive flexibility. After 15 hr of training with the action game Medal of Honor that includes the coordination of multiple game-related actions and requires rapid switching between them under strong time constraints (Boot et al., 2008; Feng, Spence, & Pratt, 2007; Green & Bavelier, 2003) and variable priority (Kramer, Larish, & Strayer, 1995; Liepelt, Strobach, Frensch, & Schubert, 2011; Strobach, Frensch, Soutschek, & Schubert, 2012c), switch costs were reduced in contrast to Tetris training of 15 hr. While the task switching paradigm requires executive functions control of sequential tasks, dual-task situations require the control of simultaneous task processing (Kramer et al., - 16 -
1995). Video gaming typically requires the fast performance of several overlapping actions such as fight enemies, locate supplies, or navigate and are representative examples of situations in which simultaneous task processing is required (Boot et al., 2008). Note that in video games the actions are typically performed at the same time or within close temporal proximity during the games and participants are required to continuously vary their priorities for different actions to achieve the goals of the game (e.g., survival of a fight situation). First hints for improved dual tasking after gaming was provided in a secondary Oddball-task (Maclin et al., 2011). In this case, however, this secondary component task in the dual-task test was combined with the game presented during training (in this case Space Fortress). Therefore, the dual-task transfer test situation closely resembles the training situation and tested dual tasking in the game context and not in a completely non-trained transfer situation. However, such a dual-task transfer situation with non-trained component tasks was introduced in the study of Strobach et al. (2012a). In this study, non-gamers after 15 hr of Medal of Honor training were compared with non-gamers after 15 hr of Tetris training in a well-controlled dual-task situation of the Psychological Refractory Period type (Pashler 1994; Schubert, 1999); this dual task combines two non-trained choice reaction time (RT) tasks. This situation provided evidence for improved skills after action game training (i.e., Medal of Honor training) to activate two task sets and to enhance dual-task performance (illustrated by fast execution of both simultaneous tasks). This training-related advantage established the causal relation between action-video gaming and transferable dual-task skills. In addition, a similar training regime resulted in similar advantages after action-game play in dual-task transfer situations with component tasks of high workload (Chiappe et al., 2013). In contrast, less controlled dual-task situations (e.g., a paper-based search paradigm combined with trivia questions) were less diagnostic to show differences between action gamers and non-gamers (Donohue, James, Eslick, & Mitroff, 2012). - 17 -
From an applied perspective, we assume that optimizing executive functions by means of action video games is a plausible approach. In particular, optimizations of executive functions are essential for mental health in the elderly which approaches applied video game research with an aging focus. This is so because these functions are (1) highly sensitive to cognitive aging (i.e., they are impaired early in older age) and this is particularly demonstrated for executive functions related with dual tasking (Strobach, Frensch, Müller, & Schubert, 2012d, 2012a; Verhaeghen, 2011), (2) an age-related decline in executive control may be an underlying mechanism to explain deficits in numerous age-sensitive tasks (e.g., simple RT tasks, choice RT tasks, tasks on episodic memory, visual search). Thus, action games, including their fun and entertainment factors, may represent cost-effective training tools to compensate or slow down decline in an essential set of functions (i.e., executive control functions) and to maintain performance in a number of cognitive tasks alike. In the context of an ever aging working society (and later retirement ages), the maintenance of a dual-task ability is essential since work-related situations are highly dominated by frequent switches between tasks, simultaneous tasks, as well as task interruptions and restarts (Gonzales & Mark, 2004). Such maintenance (potentially as a result of action video gaming) thus becomes increasingly relevant in our aging societies to maintain a high level of work productivity. Further, in the elderly, there is a natural decline in many processing capabilities (Achtman et al., 2008). These declines include decreases in manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, monitoring speeded actions, among others. Therefore, one obvious practical implication of video gaming for the elderly might be to maintain or improve the ability to drive, as many of the executive skills useful for driving safely are enhanced by video game training (e.g., Anguera et al., 2013), such as cognitive control when simultaneously accomplish multiple goals (i.e., dual tasking). In contrast, critics may argue that practically, the elderly lack relevant skills, dexterity or speed required to successfully playing action - 18 -
video games. Hence, the benefit of these games might be lower than expected (Boot, Simons, Stothart, & Stutts, 2013). Also, compliance to such fast paced (and sometimes violent) action video games in the elderly might tend to be low. Next to the effects of normal aging, applications of action games may be related to the development of clinical regimens to target deficits in populations with dysfunctions in cognitive flexibility or executive functioning. These deficits may include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Prins, Sebastiaan, Ponsioen, ten Brink, & van der Oord, 2011), and traumatic brain injury (Milders, Fuchs, & Crawford, 2003). Recent innovations were able to modulate commercial games in a way to optimally design clinical regimes under conditions of high entertainment levels (Glass et al., 2013). Furthermore, information technology has greatly increased in complexity (Dekker, 2012; Karr-Wisniewski & Lu, 2010; Nunes & Kramer, 2009) in domains of (air) traffic control, nuclear power plants, unmanned aircraft systems or laparoscopic surgery (e.g., Rosser et al., 2007) recently. In these domains, operators need to coordinate the performance of multiple tasks with limited attentional resources. In the case of traffic control, for example, future designs will incorporate more high-resolution cameras and sensing equipment, and possibly a single operator controlling many contexts (Liu, Wasson, & Vincenzi, 2009). Although automation tools are being developed, their net effect will likely be to reduce physical workload while increasing cognitive workload (Dehais, Causse, Vachon, & Tremblay, 2012). At this point, action games can improve skills that are related with efficient control under conditions of high workload. Furthermore, such games can serve as a costeffective training tool to increase operators proficiency at coordinating multiple tasks in high-stress situations including their fun and entertainment components. Summary and conclusion - 19 -
The present chapter summarized potential positive effects of intense and extensive action video game experience on perception, attention, and higher cognitive functions such as executive control. Basically, these effects are suggestive for improved processing and functioning of the human cognitive system. Therefore, we emphasized potential directions of how video game experience and its positive effects on the human cognitive system can have effects on a larger societal level. In fact, we illustrated directions of positive effects of video gaming on aging cognitive systems, traffic control/ safety, human factors, and others. We are aware of the fact that there is potentially no way of quantifying the effects of action video gaming in the large number of individuals in our societies since these effects are only one component of a net-effect with various concurrent influences, factors, and moderators. We assume, however, that the present suggestions of how action gaming can contribute to positive developments on a societal level are highly plausible and could be realized in a realworld context. Despite these suggestions deduced from positive consequences of action video gaming, we are aware of potential negative consequences of this activity on individualcognitive as well as societal levels. However, we do not focus on these consequences because this addition focus would go beyond the available space. - 20 -
Acknowledgements T. S. (last author) was supported by a grant of the German Research Foundation. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tilo Strobach, Humboldt University Berlin, Department of Psychology, Rudower Chaussee 18, 12489 Berlin, Germany. E-mails may be sent to tilo.strobach@hu-berlin.de. - 21 -
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