Abstract
The interest in the influence of videogame experience on our daily life is constantly growing. “First Person Shooter” (FPS) games require players to develop a flexible mindset to rapidly react to fast moving visual and auditory stimuli, and to switch back and forth between different subtasks. This study investigated whether and to which degree experience with such videogames generalizes to other cognitive-control tasks. Video-game players (VGPs) and individuals with little to no videogame experience (NVGPs) performed on a task switching paradigm that provides a relatively well-established diagnostic measure of cognitive flexibility. As predicted, VGPs showed smaller switching costs (i.e., greater cognitive flexibility) than NVGPs. Our findings support the idea that playing FPS games promotes cognitive flexibility.
Highlights
In the last decade the gaming industry has seen a rapid growth, as did the number of their customers
Attention was affected in non-video-game players (NVGPs) that were trained for several months on action videogames, confirming the causal role of gaming experience
This reduction was due to better performance on switch trials, suggesting that videogame experience selectively targeted the condition in which cognitive control was needed most
Summary
In the last decade the gaming industry has seen a rapid growth, as did the number of their customers. Exciting new technologies are available and the variety of games available is enormous, so that players can be found at any age and socio-economical background. This has raised the interest of scientists, who often focus on the influence of videogame experience on our daily behavior, especially with regard to violent games. Recent studies on the differences in cognitive skills between video-game players (VGPs) and non-video-game players (NVGPs) have shown surprising and theoretically interesting effects on various perceptual tasks. Attention was affected in NVGPs that were trained for several months on action videogames, confirming the causal role of gaming experience
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