Auditory cognition and perception of action video game players

Abstract

A training method to improve speech hearing in noise has proven elusive, with most methods failing to transfer to untrained tasks. one common approach to identify potentially viable training paradigms is to make use of cross-sectional designs. For instance, the consistent finding that people who chose to avidly engage with action video games as part of their normal life also show enhanced performance on non-game visual tasks has been used as a foundation to test the causal impact of such game play via true experiments (e.g., in more translational designs). However, little work has examined the association between action video game play and untrained auditory tasks, which would speak to the possible utility of using such games to improve speech hearing in noise. To examine this possibility, 80 participants with mixed action video game experience were tested on a visual reaction time task that has reliably shown superior performance in action video game players (AVGPs) compared to non-players (≤ 5 h/week across game categories) and multi-genre video game players (> 5 h/week across game categories). Auditory cognition and perception were tested using auditory reaction time and two speech-in-noise tasks. Performance of AVGPs on the visual task replicated previous positive findings. However, no significant benefit of action video game play was found on the auditory tasks. We suggest that, while AVGPs interact meaningfully with a rich visual environment during play, they may not interact with the games' auditory environment. these results suggest that far transfer learning during action video game play is modality-specific and that an acoustically relevant auditory environment may be needed to improve auditory probabilistic thinking. Computer-based sensory and cognitive training has long held the promise of dramatic improvements on real world abilities. However, finding an auditory training task that successfully leads to improved speech perception in noise, a frequently reported auditory disability 1,2 , remains elusive. Two problems have frequently occurred when training paradigms meant to improve such skills have been examined via carefully controlled experiments. The paradigms have either: (A) failed to produce benefits above and beyond those seen from placebo control conditions e.g., Ref. 3 ; or (B) produced improvements on trained tasks, but with little improvement on untrained tasks, particularly those that were quite different from the trained task. Indeed, in a recent review of training studies aiming to improve auditory performance in adults with hearing loss, Ferguson and Henshaw 4 clearly noted a general trend of improvement in the trained task ('on-task' learning) with little or no improvement in off-task abilities. Off-task abilities similar to those trained improved in some cases, a process termed 'near transfer' , but there was little evidence of 'far transfer' to complex, off-task abilities. As an example of this latter situation, in one RCT 5 , training on a speech (phoneme) discrimination task 6 prod...

Training with an auditory perceptual learning game transfers to speech in competition

“…We also note that the benefits we found match what was suggested by Stewart et al (2020) that using an action-based video-game that targets auditory cues for its task resolution should yield benefits in the auditory domain. These authors identified their lack of effects after training with an action video-game as being due to sensory domain specificity (mainly relying on visuo-spatial cues).…”

“…The assessments chosen included basic tests of CAP such as dichotic frequency modulation detection, spectro-temporal modulation (STM) detection and discrimination, gap in noise detection, as well as tests of speech in competition, such as spatial release from masking and digits in noise. We additionally included some tests of cognitive processes such as attention and working memory, as some have argued that a cognitive benefit like that associated to action video-games (see Green & Bavelier, 2003), might underlie improvements in hearing ability associated to AT (see study by Zhang et al, 2017; but also that of Stewart et al, 2020).…”

Training with audio and video games improves audiospatial performance in a “cocktail-party” task: A controlled intervention study in young adults

“…On the one hand, these results clearly confirmed our hypothesis that playing an action audio game with spatial interaction is an effective near-transfer training enhancing audiospatial performance in complex listening situations. On the other hand, the finding that playing a non-action platform video game, which demanded spatial attention to a much lesser degree and in a different sensory modality, was about equally effective as the action audio game, was in apparent contrast to the view that learning processes during game play are modality-specific, without transfer from the visual to the auditory domain [26]. It seems as if successful training of “cocktail-party” listening depended on the enhancement of domain-general cognitive aspects of selective attention, which may have been induced by both games to a similar extent, rather than modality-specific factors of auditory spatial perception.…”

“…Also, whether a cross-modal transfer of training exists (that is, auditory improvement by video gaming or vice versa) is still an unresolved issue. Recently, a cross-sectional study by Stewart et al [26] investigated effects of action video gaming on the participants’ performance in auditory cognitive and perceptual tasks, such as attention in listening, speech-in-noise perception, and listening in spatialized noise sentences. However, these authors failed to find any association between action video game play and auditory performance, although positive effects of video game play on a visual task were observed, as known from previous studies.…”

“…However, these authors failed to find any association between action video game play and auditory performance, although positive effects of video game play on a visual task were observed, as known from previous studies. Stewart et al [26] concluded that action video game play does not result in cross-modal transfer learning, due to the absence of the players’ meaningful interaction with an acoustically relevant auditory environment during play. Thus, on the one hand, it might seem reasonable to assume that beneficial effects on auditory performance can only be induced by audio games.…”