Casual Game or Cognitive Gain: Multitask Casual Game as a Training for Young Adults

Abstract

Video game training was found to enhance executive functioning in different age groups. In terms of cognitive enhancement, rare studies have investigated the potential of casual games, an easily accessible and widely used class of video games. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of casual game playing as an executive functions training in younger adults. During a 12-session program, training group participants (n = 37) played the “MultiTask” game featuring simultaneous playing of two and more games assumed to tap executive functions. Active controls (n = 36) played a simple casual game (“Smooth Snake”). Each session lasted approximately 15–20 min. Training sessions were individual and conducted at participants’ homes. Posttest and follow-up (6 months) gains were assessed through various executive function measures (shifting, updating, inhibition, complex executive functions task, and working memory span). Using linear mixed-effects analysis no significant group × time interactions were found. Both groups decreased in the number of perseverative errors in complex executive function task immediately after the intervention and 6 months after the intervention. The study does not confirm beneficiary effects of casual video games on cognition of young adults. Also, it calls for caution when inferring on training gains in young adulthoods based on student samples.