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Long-Term Motor Learning in the "Wild" With High Volume Video Game Data
Jennifer B Listman1, Jonathan S Tsay2,3, Hyosub E Kim4,5
1Statespace Labs, Inc., New York, NY, United States.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
|January 6, 2022
Summary
This study shows that complex motor skills, like those in video games, can be learned and improved over months with practice. Motor acuity, or speed and accuracy, significantly increased, demonstrating effective learning outside traditional lab settings.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Neuroscience
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Motor learning research traditionally relies on lab studies with limited participants and short practice durations.
- Existing lab-based motor learning tasks are often simple and lack ecological validity, potentially limiting generalizability.
- There's a need to study motor skill acquisition in more naturalistic settings over extended periods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the acquisition and long-term refinement of a complex sensorimotor skill in a video game environment.
- To assess motor learning in a large sample size over months, moving beyond typical laboratory constraints.
- To explore factors influencing learning rate and practice optimization in an ecologically valid context.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a large sample (N=7174) practicing a first-person shooter video game for up to 100 days.
- Measured motor acuity (hits per second) and performance accuracy (hit rate) over longitudinal practice sessions.
- Analyzed learning rate as a function of baseline performance, daily practice amount, and inter-session intervals.
Main Results:
- Motor acuity improved significantly over months of practice, with substantial day-to-day retention (40-60%).
- Performance accuracy showed modest improvement, while motor acuity demonstrated sustained growth, unlike typical lab tasks.
- Optimal daily practice for motor acuity improvement was around 60 minutes, with 90% of benefits achieved in 30 minutes.
Conclusions:
- Demonstrated a proof-of-concept for studying complex motor skill acquisition in real-world settings.
- Provided insights into the long-term refinement of sensorimotor skills beyond traditional laboratory limitations.
- Identified non-linear relationships in learning rates and suggested optimal practice durations for skill enhancement.
