Action video games and improved attentional control: Disentangling selection- and response-based processes

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Action video game playing is linked to cognitive enhancements.
• Action video game players (AVGPs) demonstrate superior attentional control over non-video game players (NVGPs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if AVGPs outperform NVGPs in both selection-based and response-based attentional processes.
• To examine the breadth of attentional benefits conferred by action video game experience.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an oculomotor capture task involving target selection and manual response.
• Employed a compound search task to differentiate selection- and response-based processes.
• Compared performance of AVGPs and NVGPs on these tasks.

Main Results:

• AVGPs were less susceptible to attentional distraction than NVGPs.
• AVGPs demonstrated superior performance in both selection-based and response-based processes.
• The findings support an improved attentional control account for AVGP benefits.

Conclusions:

• Action video game experience enhances attentional control across multiple cognitive processes.
• Benefits of action video gaming extend to stimulus-response processes impacting human performance.
• AVGPs exhibit broader advantages in attention-mediated tasks than previously understood.