Supramodal Enhancement of Auditory Perceptual and Cognitive Learning by Video Game Playing

Zhang, Yu Xuan; Tang, Ding Lan; Moore, David R.; Amitay, Sygal

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01086

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…There have been limited investigations into cross-modality improvements among AVGPs. Tetris, a visual puzzle game, has been found to improve frequency discrimination and auditory working memory when play was interspersed with a frequency discrimination task 25 . Interestingly, auditory cognition and perception did not improve when the participants were exposed to the tetris stimuli without the gaming environment.…”

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confidence: 99%

Auditory cognition and perception of action video game players

Stewart

Martinez

Perdew

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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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...

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confidence: 99%

Auditory cognition and perception of action video game players

Stewart

Martinez

Perdew

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…However, the introduction of these elements alone was insufficient to effect a significantly better outcome than the more traditional version. It has been previously shown that game-play can have an enhancing effect on perceptual learning, even where the video game is not directly related to the learning task, or indeed involving the same modality 34,40 . However, it may be that our “gamified” version was not sufficiently distinct from the standard task, since both versions provided performance-related feedback in form of “hits” and “misses” and, anecdotally, participants reported being quite motivated to improve over time whether they were using the gamified version or not.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Not only is gameplay engaging, having the potential to improve attention to a perceptual learning task, but it also leads to the release of reward signals such as dopamine 25 , which in turn have been purported to have an enhancing effect on perceptual learning through the promotion of synaptic plasticity in sensory processing nuclei 26 . The efficacy of video games to enhance various aspects of perceptual learning has been explored in the visual domain 27–30 and, more recently, in the auditory domain 31–34 . However, to what extent gamification can accelerate virtual sound localization training relative to a more traditional approach is unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term effects of sound localization training in virtual reality

Steadman

Kim

Lestang

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) capture the direction-dependant way that sound interacts with the head and torso. In virtual audio systems, which aim to emulate these effects, non-individualized, generic HRTFs are typically used leading to an inaccurate perception of virtual sound location. Training has the potential to exploit the brain’s ability to adapt to these unfamiliar cues. In this study, three virtual sound localization training paradigms were evaluated; one provided simple visual positional confirmation of sound source location, a second introduced game design elements (“gamification”) and a final version additionally utilized head-tracking to provide listeners with experience of relative sound source motion (“active listening”). The results demonstrate a significant effect of training after a small number of short (12-minute) training sessions, which is retained across multiple days. Gamification alone had no significant effect on the efficacy of the training, but active listening resulted in a significantly greater improvements in localization accuracy. In general, improvements in virtual sound localization following training generalized to a second set of non-individualized HRTFs, although some HRTF-specific changes were observed in polar angle judgement for the active listening group. The implications of this on the putative mechanisms of the adaptation process are discussed.

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“…Furthermore, different types of training tasks that share similarities with an untrained task can also improve performance in the untrained task (Beatty et al 2015; Berry et al 2010; Ortiz and Wright 2009; Wang et al 2016; Zhang et al 2016, 2017). These training tasks may not only result in enhanced sensory processing (Atienza et al 2002; Berry et al 2010; Ortiz and Wright 2009; Watanabe and Sasaki 2015) but may also improve high-level cognitive processes, such as working memory (WM), prediction, and attention (Beatty et al 2015; Siuda-Krzywicka et al 2016; Spence and McGlone 2001; Wang et al 2016; Zhang et al 2016), and these improvements may generalize to untrained tasks and stimuli.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile angle discriminability improvement: roles of training time intervals and different types of training tasks

Yang

et al. 2019

Journal of Neurophysiology

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Perceptual learning, which is not limited to sensory modalities such as vision and touch, emerges within a training session and between training sessions and is accompanied by the remodeling of neural connections in the cortex. However, limited knowledge exists regarding perceptual learning between training sessions. Although tactile studies have paid attention to between-session learning effects, there have been few studies asking fundamental questions regarding whether the time interval between training sessions affects tactile perceptual learning and generalization across tactile tasks. We investigated the effects of different training time intervals on the consecutive performance of a tactile angle discrimination (AD) task and a tactile orientation discrimination (OD) task training on tactile angle discriminability. The results indicated that in the short-interval training group, AD task performance significantly improved in the early stage of learning and nearly plateaued in the later stage, whereas in the long-interval training group, significant improvement was delayed and then also nearly plateaued in the later stage; additionally, improved OD task performance resulted in improved AD task performance. These findings suggest that training time interval affects the early stage of learning but not the later stage and that generalization occurs between different types of tactile tasks.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Perceptual learning, which constitutes important foundations of complicated cognitive processes, is learning better perception skills. We demonstrate that training time interval can affect the early stage of learning but not the later stage. Moreover, a tactile orientation discrimination training task can also improve tactile angle discrimination performance. These findings may expand the characteristics of between-session learning and help understand the mechanism of the generalization across tactile tasks.

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Supramodal Enhancement of Auditory Perceptual and Cognitive Learning by Video Game Playing

Cited by 11 publications

References 35 publications

Auditory cognition and perception of action video game players

Auditory cognition and perception of action video game players

Short-term effects of sound localization training in virtual reality

Tactile angle discriminability improvement: roles of training time intervals and different types of training tasks

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