Abstract
The impact of video game playing on cognitive abilities has been the focus of numerous studies over the last 10 years. Some cross-sectional comparisons indicate the cognitive advantages of video game players (VGPs) over non-players (NVGPs) and the benefits of video game trainings, while others fail to replicate these findings. Though there is an ongoing discussion over methodological practices and their impact on observable effects, some elementary issues, such as the representativeness of recruited VGP groups and lack of genre differentiation have not yet been widely addressed. In this article we present objective and declarative gameplay time data gathered from large samples in order to illustrate how playtime is distributed over VGP populations. The implications of this data are then discussed in the context of previous studies in the field. We also argue in favor of differentiating video games based on their genre when recruiting study samples, as this form of classification reflects the core mechanics that they utilize and therefore provides a measure of insight into what cognitive functions are likely to be engaged most. Additionally, we present the Covert Video Game Experience Questionnaire as an example of how this sort of classification can be applied during the recruitment process.
Highlights
Video games are one of the most popular free-time activities, with 42% of Americans playing at least 3 h per week (Ipsos MediaCT, 2015)
While we agree that the full range of gameplay experience should be taken into account when measuring cognitive enhancements, the approach taken by Unsworth et al (2015) suffers from the very same flaws that they argue are present in video game research on supposedly extreme groups: the use of a sample that potentially represents an extreme of the overall playtime distribution
The problem is that these categories are not based strictly on genres, and instead are often a mix of several types of games, e.g., first and third person shooters (Colzato et al, 2013; West et al, 2013; Wilms et al, 2013), shooters and roleplaying games (Sungur and Boduroglu, 2012), sports and real time strategy (Gobet et al, 2014), first-person shooter, open world action-adventure, puzzle platformers, sports and racing games as a homogenous category (Buelow et al, 2015), a non-specific “action” category (Cain et al, 2012; McDermott et al, 2014), or no categories at all (Karle et al, 2010; Vallett et al, 2013; Kühn et al, 2014). This leads to difficulty in comparing and interpreting results across studies, as cognitive changes from video gameplay might derive from the core game mechanics, such as types of stimuli, perspective, or pace
Summary
In this article we present objective and declarative gameplay time data gathered from large samples in order to illustrate how playtime is distributed over VGP populations. The implications of this data are discussed in the context of previous studies in the field. We argue in favor of differentiating video games based on their genre when recruiting study samples, as this form of classification reflects the core mechanics that they utilize and provides a measure of insight into what cognitive functions are likely to be engaged most.
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