Action video game play facilitates \u201clearning to learn\u201d

Ru-Yuan Zhang,C Shawn Green,Adrien Chopin,Daphne Bavelier,Kengo Shibata,Susanne M Jaeggi,Zhong-Lin Lu,Martin Buschkuehl

doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02652-7

Abstract

Previous work has demonstrated that action video game training produces enhancements in a wide range of cognitive abilities. Here we evaluate a possible mechanism by which such breadth of enhancement could be attained: that action game training enhances learning rates in new tasks (i.e., “learning to learn”). In an initial controlled intervention study, we show that individuals who were trained on action video games subsequently exhibited faster learning in the two cognitive domains that we tested, perception and working memory, as compared to individuals who trained on non-action games. We further confirmed the causal effect of action video game play on learning ability in a pre-registered follow-up study that included a larger number of participants, blinding, and measurements of participant expectations. Together, this work highlights enhanced learning speed for novel tasks as a mechanism through which action video game interventions may broadly improve task performance in the cognitive domain.

Highlights

Previous work has demonstrated that action video game training produces enhancements in a wide range of cognitive abilities
We show that individuals who were trained on action video games subsequently exhibited faster learning in the two cognitive domains that we tested, as compared to individuals who trained on non-action games
Consistent with the “learning to learn” hypothesis, we found that action video game play induces higher learning rates on novel tasks in both lower-level perceptual and higher-level cognitive domains

Summary

Introduction

Previous work has demonstrated that action video game training produces enhancements in a wide range of cognitive abilities. Starting from the seminal studies of Thorndike at the turn of the 20th century[5], a number of distinct mechanisms that may promote broad performance improvements have been suggested One such mechanism, termed “learning to learn”[6], is at play when information or skills gained by experience on one task (or set of tasks) permits individuals to learn new tasks faster. Action video game training produces widespread cognitive enhancements at least partially by enhancing the players’ ability to learn new tasks, and, by producing improvements in the ability to quickly extract task-relevant properties (e.g., templates for targets of interest or the timing of events) Consistent with this framework, a few studies point to more efficient learning in habitual action video game players as compared to non-action video gamers on perceptual tasks[11,12,13].

Methods

Results

Conclusion