Action video games and informal education: Effects on strategies for dividing visual attention

doi:10.1016/0193-3973(94)90008-6

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Volume 15, Issue 1, January–March 1994, Pages 105-123

https://doi.org/10.1016/0193-3973(94)90008-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

Two experiments investigated the effects of video game expertise on divided visual attention in college students. Divided attention was measured by using response time to targets of varying probabilities at two locations on a computer screen. In one condition the target appeared 10% of the time in one location (low probability position), 80% of the time in the other location (high probability position), and 10% of the time in both locations. In the other condition the target appeared 45% of the time in each position (equiprobable or neutral positions) and 10% of the time in both positions. The subjects for Experiment 1 represented two extremes of video game skill (labeled experts, novices), whereas the subjects for Experiment 2 were an unselected group with a continuous distribution of video game performance (labeled more skillful, less skillful). Experiment 1 established that video game experts were similar to novices in manifesting an attentional benefit (manifested in faster response time) at the high probability position (relative to a neutral or equiprobable position). However, unlike novices, experts did not show an attentional cost (manifested as slower response time) at the low probability position (again relative to a neutral position). Experts also had significantly faster response times than novices at both the 10% and 80% positions, but not at the 45% position. Experiment 2 established that video game experience was a causal factor in improving strategies of divided attention. Five hours of play on a video game called Robotron produced a significant decrease in response time at the 10% location, the locus of the expert-novice difference in Experiment 1.

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^☆: Experiment 2 was carried out with the aid of a grant from UCLA College Institute when Patricia M. Greenfield was the recipient of a Bunting Science Fellowship from Radcliffe College and the Office of Naval Research. Manuscript preparation was done with the aid of the Gold Shield Faculty Prize and a grant from the Spencer Foundation, awarded to Patricia M. Greenfield.

¹: Patricia deWinstanley is currently at Oberlin College.

²: Heidi Kilpatrick is now with Mattel Corporation, Los Angeles.

³: Daniel Kaye is currently with Applause, Inc., Los Angeles.

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Action video games and informal education: Effects on strategies for dividing visual attention☆

Abstract

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Smithsonian

Enhancement of perceptual sensitivity as the result of selectively attending to spatial locations

Perception and Psychophysics

The effect of literacy training on spatial attention to television and video monitors

Learning through experience and learning through media

Video-giochi e abilita cognitive: L'ipotesi del transfer [Video games and cognitive ability: The hypothesis of transfer]

Giornale Italiano di Psicologia

Selection of performance evaluation tests for environmental research

Proceedings of the 24th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors Society

An assessment of the effects of video game practice on the visual motor perceptual skills of sixth grade children

The effects of videogame playing on the response selection processing of elderly adults

Journal of Gerontology

The new literacy

Daedelus

Effect of playing a video game on a measure of spatial visualization

Perceptual and Motor Skills

Video games: Utilization of a novel strategy to improve perceptual motor skills and cognitive functioning in the non-institutionalized elderly

Cognitive Rehabilitation

The locus of interference in the perception of simultaneous stimuli

Psychological Review

Allocation of attention in the visual field

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

The effects of video game play on mood, physiological arousal and psychomotor performance

Simulated travel and place location learning in a computer adventure game

Journal of Educational Computing Research

Videogames and spatial skills: An exploratory study

Educational Communication and Technology Journal

Video games and cognitive skills

Mind and media: Effects of television, video games, and computers

I videogiochi come strumenti della socializzazione cognitiva [Video games as tools of cognitive socialization]

Psicologia Italiana

Differences in eye-hand motor coordination of video-game users and non-users

Perceptual and Motor Skills

Navy's surveillance of 2 Iraq tankers tightens

New York Times

Navy's surveillance of 2 Iraq tankers tightens

New York Times

Repeated measures analysis of variance in developmental research: Selected issues

Child Development

Video games as psychological tests

Simulation and Games

Comparison of video game and conventional test performance

Simulation and Games