Balancing Engagement and Validity in Game-Based Cognitive Assessments.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Human-computer interaction
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Cognitive assessments increasingly use game features to enhance user engagement.
• The impact of these game features on the validity of cognitive constructs is not fully understood.
• Existing research highlights potential trade-offs between engagement and measurement accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review empirical evidence on how specific game features influence engagement and construct validity in cognitive assessments.
• To identify game design elements that may pose risks to the validity of cognitive measurements.
• To highlight gaps in current validation frameworks for gamified cognitive tests.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of empirical studies examining game features in cognitive assessments.
• Analysis of how structural features (e.g., points, feedback) and content features (e.g., narrative, time pressure) affect engagement.
• Evaluation of the impact of these features on construct validity.

Main Results:

• Structural game features like points and feedback generally increase engagement with minimal impact on construct validity.
• Content-focused features, such as narratives and time pressure, show a greater potential to alter user strategies and thus affect what is being measured.
• Empirical evidence is limited, suggesting a need for more rigorous validation studies.

Conclusions:

• While game features can enhance engagement in cognitive assessments, careful design is needed to maintain construct validity.
• Developers and researchers must consider the potential for certain features to inadvertently measure strategy changes rather than stable cognitive abilities.
• There is a critical need for standardized validation frameworks to guide the development and use of gamified cognitive assessments.