Associations Between Avid Action and Real-Time Strategy Game Play and Cognitive Performance: a Pilot Study

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, numerous studies have demonstrated that action video game players outperform non-gamers on a variety of cognitive measures. However, few researchers have examined the potential beneficial effects of playing real-time strategy games or the effect of playing multiple game genres. As such, the purpose of the current study was to (a) replicate the existing findings that show cognitive differences between action gamers (AVGPs) and nongamers (NVGPs), (b) examine whether real-time strategy gamers (SVGPs) also differ from NVGPs on various cognitive tasks, and (c) examine how multi-genre video game players (BTweeners^) compare to both AVGPs and NVGPs. We created a large task battery that tapped into various aspects of cognition (i.e., reaction time, selective attention, memory, executive control, and fluid intelligence) in order to examine the tasks that differed between our three gamer groups and nongamers. Our results largely replicated the majority of the findings to date, such that AVGPs outperformed NVGPs on a wide variety of cognitive tasks, but the two groups do not differ in memory performance or fluid intelligence. We also demonstrated that SVGPs had numerically faster response times on several tasks as compared to the NVGPs. This pattern of results was similar to what was found with the AVGPs, although in the case of the SVGPs not all of the results reached the level of statistical significance. Lastly, we demonstrated that Tweeners perform similarly to genre-pure gamers in that their performance on several cognitive tasks was numerically better than for NVGPs, although the performance of the Tweeners was numerically lower than for both the AVGPs and the SVGPs. Overall, these findings have several implications for game studies, particularly with respect to how SVGPs and Tweeners are considered going forward.

A new look at the cognitive neuroscience of video game play

“…However, as these genres have shifted in terms of their mechanics (i.e., adding in more and more action mechanics), research has similarly shown a shift in the impact of these games. Quasiexperimental, intervention, and correlational studies have linked action‐RPGs, RTS and racing games, and MOBAs with some cognitive skill enhancement, akin to what has previously been observed to arise via action video game play …”

“…Quasiexperimental, intervention, and correlational studies have linked action-RPGs, RTS and racing games, and MOBAs with some cognitive skill enhancement, akin to what has previously been observed to arise via action video game play. 3,7,41,72,73 Crucially, the specific mechanics implemented in the game, rather than the genre or the content of the game, appear to drive the changes in brain and cognition. For instance, Glass et al 7 conducted a study wherein 72 women were tested on a battery of cognitive tasks before and after playing 40 h of either a control game (The Sims TM ) or one of two versions of an RTS game (StarCraft R ) that differed in the amount of information the players had to track simultaneously.…”

Neural bases of enhanced attentional control: Lessons from action video game players

“…Action video games were initially defined as shooter games (first or third person). More recently this criterion has been relaxed as other genres have been documented to produce similar benefits such as action‐sports‐adventure video games and real‐time strategy video games (Bediou et al., ; Dale & Green, ,b; Glass, Maddox, & Love, ). For this sample, ran between 2011–2012, commonly cited titles included Halo, Call of Duty, Borderlands, Half Life, Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, Bioshock, Fallout, Killing Floor, or Resident Evil.…”

Action Real-Time Strategy Gaming Experience Related to Increased Attentional Resources: An Attentional Blink Study

“…Although some studies did not find evidence supporting the benefit of action video gaming experience on cognitive development (van Ravenzwaaij et al, 2014;Hilgard et al, 2019), meta-analyses have revealed positive influence of action video gaming on cognitive development (Latham et al, 2013;Powers et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2016). For example, action video gaming experience can improve primary information processing [e.g., visual processing (Green and Bavelier, 2007), contrast sensitivity (Li et al, 2009), hand-eye coordination (Dale and Green, 2017a)] and higherlevel cognitive functions [e.g., attention, visuospatial processing, working memory and executive control Bavelier, 2003, 2012;Green and Seitz, 2015)].…”

“…ARSG requires not only attention and hand-eye coordination but also strategic decision-making abilities based on instant responses and team cooperation, just like traditional team sports (e.g., football, basketball). Because ARSG contains action mechanics, it may tax a set of cognitive systems required in action video gaming; therefore ARSG may benefit cognitive development just like action video gaming (Dale and Green, 2017a;Dale et al, 2019). Indeed, fMRI research suggests that, compared with ARSG nonexperts, experts have increased functional connectivity between the attentional and sensorimotor networks (Gong et al, 2015) as well as superior functional integration between salience and central executive networks-two critical networks for VSA (Gong et al, 2016).…”