Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Video Game Training and Effects on Executive Functions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Cognitive Training

  • 2441 Accesses

Abstract

In the present chapter, we reviewed studies investigating the effects of video game training (particularly action video games) on the executive functions shifting, dual tasking, updating, and inhibition. These studies provide evidence that video game training improves the performance in task switching (i.e., shifting) and dual-task situations (besides first evidence for improved working memory updating). In contrast, the literature on effects of action video gaming rather suggests no relation between training in action video games and improved inhibition. In sum, this set of findings is consistent with the assumption that transfer from action video game training to executive function measures is domain-specific and might depend on similarities between the trained video game and the laboratory task. In alternative, inhibition-related skills might be not trainable at all.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory. New York, NY: Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bavelier, D., Green, C. S., Pouget, A., & Schrater, P. (2012). Brain plasticity through the life span: Learning to learn and action video games. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 35, 391–416.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berryhill, M. E., & Hughes, H. C. (2009). On the minimization of task switch costs following long-term training. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71, 503–514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boot, W. R., Kramer, A. F., Simons, D. J., Fabiani, M., & Gratton, G. (2008). The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control. Acta Psychologica, 129, 387–398.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware e. V.Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung. (2012). Gamer in Deutschland. Retrieved August 17, 2015, from http://www.biu-online.de/de/fakten/marktzahlen/der-deutsche-markt-fuer-computer-und-videospiele-in-der-uebersicht.html

  • Cain, M. S., Landau, A. N., & Shimamura, A. P. (2012). Action video game experience reduces the cost of switching tasks. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74(4), 641–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiappe, D., Conger, M., Liao, J., Caldwell, J., & Vu, K. L. (2013). Improving multi-tasking ability through action videogames. Applied Ergonomics, 44(2), 278–284.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Colzato, L. S., van den Wildenberg, W. M., Zmigrod, S., & Hommel, B. (2013). Action video gaming and cognitive control: Playing first person shooter games is associated with improvement in working memory but not action inhibition. Psychological Research, 77(2), 234–239.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Colzato, L. S., van Leeuwen, P. J. A., van den Wildenberg, W., & Hommel, B. (2010). DOOM’d to switch: Superior cognitive flexibility in players of first person shooter games. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 8.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlin, E., Neely, A. S., Larsson, A., Bäckman, L., & Nyberg, L. (2008). Transfer of learning after updating training mediated by the striatum. Science, 320(5882), 1510–1512.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, D. J., Zacks, R. T., & Williams, C. C. (2003). Stroop interference, practice, and aging. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 10(2), 85–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donohue, S. E., James, B., Eslick, A. N., & Mitroff, S. R. (2012). Cognitive pitfall! Videogame players are not immune to dual-task costs. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74(5), 803–809.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engelhardt, C. R., Hilgard, J., & Bartholow, B. D. (2015). Acute exposure to difficult (but not violent) video games dysregulates cognitive control. Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 85–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaspar, J. G., Neider, M. B., Crowell, J. A., Lutz, A., Kaczmarski, H., & Kramer, A. F. (2014). Are gamers better crossers? An examination of action video game experience and dual task effects in a simulated street crossing task. Human Factors, 56(3), 443–452.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Green, C. S., Strobach, T., & Schubert, T. (2014). On methodological standards in training and transfer experiments. Psychological Research, 78(6), 756–772.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Green, C. S., Sugarman, M. A., Medford, K., Klobusicky, E., & Bavelier, D. (2012). The effect of action video game experience on task-switching. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(3), 984–994.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jonides, J., & Smith, E. E. (1997). The architecture of working memory. In M. D. Rugg (Ed.), Cognitive neuroscience (pp. 243–276). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karbach, J., & Kray, J. (2009). How useful is executive control training? Age differences in near and far transfer of task-switching training. Developmental Science, 12(6), 978–990.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Karle, J. W., Watter, S., & Shedden, J. M. (2010). Task switching in video game players: Benefits of selective attention but not resistance to proactive interference. Acta Psychologica, 134(1), 70–78.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacLeod, C. M. (1991). Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 109(2), 163–203.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., & Howerter, A. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex ‘frontal lobe’ tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41(1), 49–100.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Monsell, S. (2003). Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 134–140.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oei, A. C., & Patterson, M. D. (2014). Playing a puzzle video game with changing requirements improves executive functions. Computers in Human Behavior, 37, 216–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oei, A. C., & Patterson, M. D. (2015). Enhancing perceptual and attentional skills requires common demands between the action video games and transfer tasks. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raz, N. (2000). Aging of the brain and its impact on cognitive performance: Integration of structural and functional findings. In F. M. Craik & T. A. Salthouse (Eds.), The handbook of aging and cognition (2nd ed., pp. 1–90). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schubert, T. (2008). The central attentional limitation and executive control. Frontiers in Bisocience, 13, 3569–3580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schubert, T., & Strobach, T. (2012). Video game experience and optimized executive control skills—On false positives and false negatives: Reply to Boot and Simons (2012). Acta Psychologica, 141(2), 278–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence, I., & Feng, J. (2010). Video games and spatial cognition. Review of General Psychology, 14(2), 92–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strobach, T., Frensch, P., Müller, H., & Schubert, T. (2015). Evidence for the acquisition of dual-task coordination skills in older adults. Acta Psychologica, 160, 104–116.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strobach, T., Frensch, P. A., & Schubert, T. (2012a). Video game practice optimizes executive control skills in dual-task and task switching situations. Acta Psychologica, 140(1), 13–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strobach, T., Liepelt, R., Schubert, T., & Kiesel, A. (2012b). Task switching: Effects of practice on switch and mixing costs. Psychological Research, 76(1), 74–83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strobach, T., Salminen, T., Karbach, J., & Schubert, T. (2014). Practice-related optimization and transfer of executive functions: A general review and a specific realization of their mechanisms in dual tasks. Psychological Research, 78(6), 836–851.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Szameitat, A. J., Lepsien, J., von Cramon, D., Sterr, A., & Schubert, T. (2006). Task-order coordination in dual-task performance and the lateral prefrontal cortex: An event-related fMRI study. Psychological Research, 70(6), 541–552.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, A. J., & Yang, L. (2012). Plasticity of inhibition in older adults: Retest practice and transfer effects. Psychology and Aging, 27(3), 606–615.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, S., & Spence, I. (2013). Playing shooter and driving videogames improves top-down guidance in visual search. Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 75(4), 673–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Tilo Strobach

  2. Department of Psychology, Martin Luther University Halle, Halle, Germany

    Torsten Schubert

Authors
  1. Tilo Strobach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Torsten Schubert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tilo Strobach .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Tilo Strobach

  2. Department of Psychology, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

    Julia Karbach

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Strobach, T., Schubert, T. (2016). Video Game Training and Effects on Executive Functions. In: Strobach, T., Karbach, J. (eds) Cognitive Training. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42662-4_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation