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Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research 2/2013

01-03-2013 | Original Article

Action video gaming and cognitive control: playing first person shooter games is associated with improvement in working memory but not action inhibition

Auteurs: Lorenza S. Colzato, Wery P. M. van den Wildenberg, Sharon Zmigrod, Bernhard Hommel

Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research | Uitgave 2/2013

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Abstract

The interest in the influence of videogame experience in our daily life is constantly growing. “First Person Shooter” (FPS) games require players to develop a flexible mindset to rapidly react and monitor fast moving visual and auditory stimuli, and to inhibit erroneous actions. This study investigated whether and to which degree experience with such videogames generalizes to other cognitive control tasks. Experienced video game players (VGPs) and individuals with little to no videogame experience (NVGPs) performed on a N-back task and a stop-signal paradigm that provide a relatively well-established diagnostic measure of the monitoring and updating of working memory (WM) and response inhibition (an index of behavioral impulsivity), respectively. VGPs were faster and more accurate in the monitoring and updating of WM than NVGPs, which were faster in reacting to go signals, but showed comparable stopping performance. Our findings support the idea that playing FPS games is associated with enhanced flexible updating of task-relevant information without affecting impulsivity.
Voetnoten
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Note that the staircase method that we used allowed separating SSRT from the general RT level, which ensures that the former cannot be explained on the basis of the latter.
 
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Metagegevens
Titel
Action video gaming and cognitive control: playing first person shooter games is associated with improvement in working memory but not action inhibition
Auteurs
Lorenza S. Colzato
Wery P. M. van den Wildenberg
Sharon Zmigrod
Bernhard Hommel
Publicatiedatum
01-03-2013
Uitgeverij
Springer-Verlag
Gepubliceerd in
Psychological Research / Uitgave 2/2013
Print ISSN: 0340-0727
Elektronisch ISSN: 1430-2772
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0415-2

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