Video game players outperform non-players on measures of basic attention and performance.
Differences might result from exposure to video games or reflect other group differences.
Research has suggested a causal link between video game experience and improved attentional
skills (e.g., Green & Bavelier, 2003). We sought to replicate and extend these results.
Expert/non-gamer performance was assessed on tasks tapping a wide range of abilities. Non-
gamers played 20+ hours of an action video game, a puzzle game, or a real-time strategy game.
Expert gamers and non-gamers differed on a number of basic cognitive skills: experts could track
objects moving at greater speeds, better detected changes to objects stored in visual short-term
memory, switched more quickly between tasks, and mentally rotated objects more efficiently.
Strikingly, extensive video game practice did not substantially enhance performance for non-
gamers on most cognitive tasks (except for a mental rotation task). Our results suggest that at
least some differences between video game experts and non-gamers in basic cognitive
performance result either from far more extensive video game experience or from pre-existing
group differences in abilities that result in a self-selection effect.
%0 Journal Article
%1 boot09
%A Boot, Walter R.
%A Kramer, Arthur F.
%A Simons, Daniel J.
%A Fabiani, Monica
%A Gratton, Gabriele
%D 2008
%J Acta Psychologica
%K attention cognition cognitive control game games haifa-games-course learning memory video
%N 3
%P 387-398
%T The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control
%U https://www.psych.uiuc.edu/reprints/index.php?site_id=1
%V 129
%X Video game players outperform non-players on measures of basic attention and performance.
Differences might result from exposure to video games or reflect other group differences.
Research has suggested a causal link between video game experience and improved attentional
skills (e.g., Green & Bavelier, 2003). We sought to replicate and extend these results.
Expert/non-gamer performance was assessed on tasks tapping a wide range of abilities. Non-
gamers played 20+ hours of an action video game, a puzzle game, or a real-time strategy game.
Expert gamers and non-gamers differed on a number of basic cognitive skills: experts could track
objects moving at greater speeds, better detected changes to objects stored in visual short-term
memory, switched more quickly between tasks, and mentally rotated objects more efficiently.
Strikingly, extensive video game practice did not substantially enhance performance for non-
gamers on most cognitive tasks (except for a mental rotation task). Our results suggest that at
least some differences between video game experts and non-gamers in basic cognitive
performance result either from far more extensive video game experience or from pre-existing
group differences in abilities that result in a self-selection effect.
@article{boot09,
abstract = {Video game players outperform non-players on measures of basic attention and performance.
Differences might result from exposure to video games or reflect other group differences.
Research has suggested a causal link between video game experience and improved attentional
skills (e.g., Green & Bavelier, 2003). We sought to replicate and extend these results.
Expert/non-gamer performance was assessed on tasks tapping a wide range of abilities. Non-
gamers played 20+ hours of an action video game, a puzzle game, or a real-time strategy game.
Expert gamers and non-gamers differed on a number of basic cognitive skills: experts could track
objects moving at greater speeds, better detected changes to objects stored in visual short-term
memory, switched more quickly between tasks, and mentally rotated objects more efficiently.
Strikingly, extensive video game practice did not substantially enhance performance for non-
gamers on most cognitive tasks (except for a mental rotation task). Our results suggest that at
least some differences between video game experts and non-gamers in basic cognitive
performance result either from far more extensive video game experience or from pre-existing
group differences in abilities that result in a self-selection effect.
},
added-at = {2010-08-12T15:39:13.000+0200},
author = {Boot, Walter R. and Kramer, Arthur F. and Simons, Daniel J. and Fabiani, Monica and Gratton, Gabriele},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/272969164993705987cdd67b2191da40d/yish},
interhash = {1c60b60636ecfa6f2327a6b828b2d028},
intrahash = {72969164993705987cdd67b2191da40d},
journal = { Acta Psychologica},
keywords = {attention cognition cognitive control game games haifa-games-course learning memory video},
number = 3,
pages = {387-398},
timestamp = {2010-08-14T13:41:50.000+0200},
title = {The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control},
url = {https://www.psych.uiuc.edu/reprints/index.php?site_id=1},
volume = 129,
year = 2008
}