The Cognitive Processes Behind Commercialized Board Games for Intervening in Mental Health and Education: A Committee of Experts

Abstract

The use of modern board games has been growing last years in education, research, and mental health attendance. Often one professional selects games by his/her criteria depending on his/her objective with them. We evaluated the cognitive processes inherent to each modern board game to obtain a consensus of the cognitive profile of each. We explain how to choose the most suitable board games in future interventions.Fifteen education, mental health, and neuroscience research professionals with board games experience participated in an online assessment of 27 modern board games.Experts received a virtual neuroeducation formation and played the games selection for further analysis. Participants answered a Likert scale about 12 cognitive processes activated with each game. All modern board games obtained a high level of agreement (ICC>.75). Besides, most cognitive processes reached a high agreement, except for cognitive flexibility and problem-solving (moderate range; .5>ICC>.75). Differentiated cognitive profiles have been obtained for each game, some of which could work on more than one cognitive domain at a time. Finally, initial evidence about which board game mechanisms activates with cognitive domain was found. To conclude, this expert consensus methodology became a useful tool for assessing the cognitive profile behind modern board and card games. The results obtained may facilitate the choice of games to be used in future studies depending on the objective cognitive domain to be trained under a criterion based on the observations of a group of experts and not just the researcher's individual criteria.

Just Play Cognitive Modern Board and Card Games, It’s Going to Be Good for Your Executive Functions: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Children at Risk of Social Exclusion

“…One explanation for the above-mentioned surprising results is that games could activate more cognitive processes than initially suspected. Then, we analyzed each game’s cognitive profile following Vita-Barrull et al’s [ 7 ] suggestions. Figure 3 represents all the games used in the present study.…”

“…After performing the mixed models, we needed to analyze the cognitive profile of each game. We used the methodology proposed by [ 7 ].…”

Your Move: An Open Access Dataset of Over 1500 Board Gamer’s Demographics, Preferences and Motivations

“…While this will likely lead to smaller market returns for the developer, its cultural and reputational effects and consequences on player experience and well-being can only be positive. Our findings provide game design relevant information, like the type of mechanism, themes, and experiences that are useful to develop and choose when applying therapeutic tabletop games (Bean et al, 2020;Eladhari, 2018;Vita-Barrull et al, 2022). With readily available crowdfunding opportunities to mitigate financial risk, the use of social media to target specific markets, and the possibilities offered by electronic distribution and/or print-on-demand, games companies can confidently diversify their portfolios and target their games, especially now there is a dataset freely available to inform creative and commercial choices.…”

“…Analogue versions of games may offer specific benefits for improving the lives of players when compared to other activities (Estrada-Plana et al, 2021; Vi ta-Barrul et al, 2022). However, it is essential to define these practices.…”

Jogo Sério Analógico Na Pessoa Com Demência E Risco De Queda – Fundamentos Para a Reabilitação

“…De facto, no que se refere aos jogos analógicos de tabuleiro, são necessários mais estudos que nos permitam conhecer melhor o potencial de aprendizagem através do ambiente de aprendizagem/ensino através do jogo, em áreas especificas como a motivação, pensamento critico e adesão à aprendizagem (BAYECK, 2020). Para além disso, especialmente para populações com declínio da função cognitiva, são necessários mais estudos que permitam perceber de que forma se pode um jogo adaptar a populações com diferentes características e de que forma a capacidade que uma pessoa tem para entender o próprio jogo poderá influenciar no seu potencial e resultados de intervenção (VITA-BARRULL et al, 2022). Apesar de a evidência, até agora, ser encorajadora no que se refere à utilização de componentes de jogo, em diferentes "outcomes" na população idosa, persiste a necessidade de mais estudos, com medidas mais estruturadas, que demonstrem e ajudem a perceber quais os mecanismos que potenciam esses benefícios (WHITE; MARTIN; WHITE, 2022).…”