Communality of videogame performances with tracking tasks

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Cognitive Psychology
• Motor Skill Acquisition

Background:

• Tracking tasks are crucial for evaluating motor control and cognitive abilities.
• Traditional tracking tasks often lack engagement and may not reflect real-world performance demands.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare performance and skill transfer between traditional tracking tasks and videogames.
• To investigate the convergence of abilities measured by tracking tasks and videogames over time.

Main Methods:

• Forty male subjects performed three videogames and three tracking tasks over three weeks each.
• Tracking tasks were administered one year apart from videogame performance.
• Cross-correlations of performance scores were analyzed for early and late practice stages.

Main Results:

• High correlations were found between late-practice scores of tracking tasks and videogames, even when separated by a year.
• Videogames and tracking tasks demonstrated significant overlap in the abilities they index.
• Performance stability was achieved after three weeks of practice for all tasks.

Conclusions:

• Videogames can effectively measure tracking skills, exhibiting high communality with traditional tasks.
• The use of videogames offers advantages such as cost-effectiveness, accessibility, and increased subject motivation.
• Videogames may provide a more valid assessment of real-world performance requirements compared to traditional tracking tasks.