Task switching in video game players: Benefits of selective attention but not resistance to proactive interference

Karle, James W.; Watter, Scott; Shedden, Judith M.

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2009.12.007

Cited by 116 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For instance, similarly nonsignificant results have been generated in relation to enumeration, 13 flanker compatibility, 17 and task switching. 19 This appears largely to support the notion that specific task features are important in generating significant group differences. In the case of flanker compatibility, Irons et al 17 FIG .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

“…The serial counting process argued to be superior in VGPs 9 is also more influenced by the grouping and geometry of the presented items, 26,27 indicating that subtle task variations may produce divergent results. In relation to task switching, Karle et al 19 found that although in one experiment VGPs did indeed show a smaller switch cost than NVGPs, this advantage was eradicated by increasing the task interference by keeping the response keys the same for both of the tasks. This would therefore provide further support for the notion that executive control is not improved in VGPs but that, possibly, superior performance in some task switching paradigms is in fact indicative of improved selective attention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has been in regards to flanker interference, 17 enumeration performance, 13 and other measures that should be related to ones previously found to differentiate the two groups, such as visuospatial cognition 18 and certain task switching paradigms. 19 Many of these authors have argued that this could be due to video games only improving performance in certain tasks, and not the underlying processes they purportedly measure. This may be particularly true for task switching performance, as Karle et al 20 found that VGPs only outperformed NVGPs in paradigms with low cross task interference, meaning that the response keys for the two separate tasks had to be different.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Video Game Use and Cognitive Performance: Does It Vary with the Presence of Problematic Video Game Use?

Collins

Freeman

2014

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Action video game players have been found to outperform nonplayers on a variety of cognitive tasks. However, several failures to replicate these video game player advantages have indicated that this relationship may not be straightforward. Moreover, despite the discovery that problematic video game players do not appear to demonstrate the same superior performance as nonproblematic video game players in relation to multiple object tracking paradigms, this has not been investigated for other tasks. Consequently, this study compared gamers and nongamers in task switching ability, visual short-term memory, mental rotation, enumeration, and flanker interference, as well as investigated the influence of self-reported problematic video game use. A total of 66 participants completed the experiment, 26 of whom played action video games, including 20 problematic players. The results revealed no significant effect of playing action video games, nor any influence of problematic video game play. This indicates that the previously reported cognitive advantages in video game players may be restricted to specific task features or samples. Furthermore, problematic video game play may not have a detrimental effect on cognitive performance, although this is difficult to ascertain considering the lack of video game player advantage. More research is therefore sorely needed.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Video Game Use and Cognitive Performance: Does It Vary with the Presence of Problematic Video Game Use?

Collins

Freeman

2014

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This includes improvements in visual sensitivity [24,29], basic perimetry [20], perceptual decision making [30], speed of processing [31,32], perceptual simultaneity and temporal order judgments [21], in the capacity to select task relevant information across space [23,33 ,34-36,37 ,38] and time [23,33 ,39,40], to overcome attentional capture [41,42] and utilize cognitive control [25], in the ability to track multiple moving objects [23,43,44], to mentally rotate complex shapes [36], to remember visually presented information [45,46], and to either rapidly switch between tasks [47 , [48][49][50][51][52] or to perform multiple tasks concurrently [51,53] (although see [54][55][56][57] for failures to find such effects). The available research also strongly contradicts the popular conception of the 'triggerhappy' video game player who is willing to trade reductions in accuracy for increased speed.…”

Section: Changes In Perceptual Attentional and Cognitive Skillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Action video game training for cognitive enhancement

Green

Bavelier

2015

Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

124

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Here we review the literature examining the perceptual, attentional, and cognitive benefits of playing one sub-type of video games known as 'action video games,' as well as the mechanistic underpinnings of these behavioral effects. We then outline evidence indicating the potential usefulness of these commercial off-the-shelf games for practical, real-world applications such as rehabilitation or the training of job-related skills. Finally, we discuss potential core characteristics of action video games that allow for wide learning generalization.

show abstract

“…Green et al [20] found that video game players exhibited superior visual performance on a variety of attention-demanding tasks, including spatial target localization, rapid target identification, and multi-object tracking. Video game players may have greater control over task switching as well as better temporal attentional processing [21]. Castel et al [22] suggested that video game players may have a benefit in higher-level executive control ability, allowing for more efficient control and allocation of selective attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of strategy video game and its background music on cognitive control

Xiaoqing¹,

Zhang²

2017

Ment Health Addict Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It has been acutely argued for decades about the exact influences of video games on players. The researchers are also unable to come to an agreement on the effects of video games on cognitive control. Some researchers found that the video games were harmful to sustained attention, working memory and cognitive flexibility. While some other researchers claimed that video game experience has a beneficial effect on visuospatial cognition, executive control functions and cognitive improvement. In order to find out the hidden factors that cause the inconsistent results in this field, present research made a strict control on the game genre, measure of cognitive control and players' subjective immersion in video games, with the hope to investigate the influence of video games on cognitive control in a more subtle way.Forty five participants were randomly assigned into three groups in this research. One of them was control group; they were required to use the internet to search for information related to certain subject. Another was no-music game group; they were required to play a strategy game (Red star 2) without the earphone. The last was music game group; they played the same game but with earphone to enjoy the background music. All the conditions lasted for 20min. Before the formal experiment, all participants should finish an N-back task and the performances were used as covariable in final analyses. After the experiment, they should complete a color Stroop task and the results were the index of cognitive control ability. The results showed that the no-music video game can significantly improve players' reactive control. The music video game had a significant benefit on the proactive control compared to the control group and no-music video game group. Present research indicated that when the strategy video game was played without background music, it just improved the reactive cognitive control like other kind of video games did. The background music made strategy video game more strategically, which significantly increased the proactive cognitive control ability.

show abstract

Task switching in video game players: Benefits of selective attention but not resistance to proactive interference

Cited by 116 publications

References 20 publications

Video Game Use and Cognitive Performance: Does It Vary with the Presence of Problematic Video Game Use?

Video Game Use and Cognitive Performance: Does It Vary with the Presence of Problematic Video Game Use?

Action video game training for cognitive enhancement

The influence of strategy video game and its background music on cognitive control

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About