FOUNDATION IN SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY COVER SHEET FOR

ASSIGNMENT

INTAKE: MARCH 2016

SEMESTER: THREE (3)

SUBJECT TITLE: ACADEMIC WRITING

SUBJECT CODE: FSTM 3074

LECTURER: MISS ALYSHIA

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: DOES VIDEO GAME AFFECT OGNITIVE SKILLS?

NAME: KAARTIIK A/L VIJAYAN

Date Submitted :

Students Signature :

Lecturers Signature :
Contents

Abstract.....................................................................................................................................3
Introduction..............................................................................................................................4
Literature Review.....................................................................................................................5
Methodology.............................................................................................................................8
Procedure..............................................................................................................................8
Research Questions...............................................................................................................8
Findings...................................................................................................................................10
Results of Group A Participants........................................................................................10
Results of Group B Participants........................................................................................10
Discussion................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion...............................................................................................................................15
References...............................................................................................................................16
Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate if playing video games affect cognitive
skills. In addition, this research is being carried out to find out if video games does
actually bring positive effects to our brain instead of negative effects. Three main research
problems discussed were, did the game affect cognitive skills of players, why does it
affects cognitive skill, and what sort of skills did it affect. The experiment was designed
as in there were 2 groups of participants. One group which were required to play the
game and the other group did not. After that, both group participants were tested on
speed, attention, vision and hand-eye coordination by tapping fast occurring dots on a
smartphone. Later their results and were recorded and computed to obtain their speed.
The findings of this experiment showed that those who played games had a higher speed
than those who did not. This is expected, as the participants who lacked gaming
experience were not used to fast moving objects, hence, they could not reach a higher
score in the cognitive test given. Surprisingly, a non-videogame player (NVGP) obtained
the highest score in the test, but took a longer time. This brought in the discussion of the
trigger-happy phenomena among videogame players (VGPs), where accuracy is
sacrificed for speed. In a summary, the thesis of this research which was video games
increases cognitive skills by improving attention, vision, multi-task/hand-eye
coordination, impulsiveness and vigilance was proven. Although, this experiment may not
be highly accurate due to less number of participants, but it showed that video games can
improve cognitive skills and benefit players.
Introduction

The aim of this research is to investigate if playing video games affect cognitive
skills. Cognitive which is in relation to cognition is defined as the mental action or process of
acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses
according to Oxford Dictionary.

This research is being carried out to find out if video games does actually bring
positive effects. This can really bring a change in the society breaking the stereotype, in
which parents believe that video games does harm to their children and prove that over time
players can have better cognitive skills. In the bigger picture, showing that video games
improves cognitive skills can improve the market of this industry globally (Green & R.Seitz,
2015). This research can encourage makers of games and gaming consoles to come up with
more fascinating ways to further improve cognitive skills of the players.

In the past, research have been carried out with the same motive. Previous research
have shown that games helped to improve cognitive skills such as attention and visual
processing (Eichenbaum, Bavelier, & Green, 2014) (Green & Bavelier, Action-Video-Game
Experience Alters the Spatial Resolution of Vision, 2007). Furthermore, playing video games
have also helped to increase multi-tasking ability of the payers. Those who played video
games were able to give better response than those who did not play (W. G. Dye, Green, &
Bavelier, 2009).

Even though research have been carried out before, those research mainly used action
games (shooter) to test the players (Granic, Lobel, & C.M.E Engels, 2014). Meanwhile, in
this research various genre of games are to be used and their effects on cognitive skills would
be tested. The limitations of this research would be, is that it is carried out in a small group of
people from a fixed age group, mostly teenagers.

The thesis statement for this research is video games increases cognitive skills by
improving attention, vision, multi-task/hand-eye coordination, impulsiveness and vigilance.
Literature Review

The aim of this research is to investigate if playing video games affect cognitive
skills. In this review, various findings from different researchers about how video games are
affecting cognitive skills would compared and synthesized. This can really bring a change in
the society breaking the stereotype, in which the society believes that video games does harm
to the youngsters, and prove that over time players can have better cognitive skills. In the
bigger picture, showing that video games improves cognitive skills can improve the market of
this industry globally (Green & R.Seitz, 2015). This research can encourage makers of games
and gaming consoles to come up with more fascinating ways to further improve cognitive
skills of the players. The aspects that would be discussed are brain speed/reaction time,
vision, multi-tasking and other common findings among researchers.

In recent years, there has been a major interest in research examining whether prior
experience playing video games in particular, action or first-person shooter games are related
to various cognitive skills and abilities. Few research has demonstrated that video-game
players outperform non-video-game players on tests of attention control, visual-spatial
abilities and enumeration (selective attention) (Green & Bavelier, Action-Video-Game
Experience Alters the Spatial Resolution of Vision , 2007). Green & Bavelier 2007 study
extends previous ndings on the impact of video game and visual skills by showing that
video-game play can alter visual performance even in a task in which the location and time of
arrival of the stimulus are xed and known ahead of time to the subject. But in contrast to
that work in gamers, this study could have also focused on complex visual tasks that by
design relied on uncertainty, such as visual search tasks in which the target location is
uncertain and has to be found. This is because many action games especially shooter games
follow this concept.

Moreover, another typical finding under this topic of research how video games affect
enumeration (selective attention) among video-game players (Green & Bavelier, enumeration
versus multiple object tracking: the case of action video game players., 2006). As suggested
earlier this study has shown the fact that many video games require players to spread
peripheral attention (what is seen on the side by the eye when looking straight ahead) as
targets can appear at any location. The problem in this enumeration study is that the reaction
time may vary between groups of video-game players and non-video-game players. This is
because video-game players are well trained in quickly pressing the keys compared to the
non-players. Instead of keys, the researchers should have considered oral response to
maintain accuracy in data. In addition, one more problem with this study is that, during
selection of participants by selecting video-game players, they may have selected participants
with inherently better visual/attentional skills compared to non-video-game players. The
impact of this difference might have led video-game players, with their greater natural ability,
did well at video games and by often playing hours, whereas non-video-game players, whose
inherent abilities limited their success, avoided playing games as a result. Another possible
confound was that, because of relatively superior hand-eye coordination, video-game players
were better able to perform the motor aspect of the tasks. In another similar study on video
games and enumeration, to prevent these potential contradictions, a group of non-video-
game players were trained action-video-game training, in which they were asked to play
Medal of Honor (a game similar game played by the video-game players participants) for a
particular time period. A control group was trained, over same duration, on the game Tetris.
This game contains a challenging hand-eye component but, whereas action games require
attention to be distributed and switched around the eld, Tetris demands focus on one object
at a time. Tetris, therefore, would not be expected to manipulate the aspects of visual
attention described above. The result of the action-game study has also shown that action-
game training led to greater performance improvement. (Green & Bavelier, Action video
game modies visual selective attention, 2003)

Furthermore, a common finding across studies is that video-game players are faster on
a number of measures compared with non-video-game players. These findings have brought
many researchers to deduce that playing video games can improve a variety of cognitive
abilities. This conclusion has been supported by research training studies in which subjects
who played a video game for a certain amount of time subsequently showed an increased
performance on a number of measures compared with control subjects who did not play the
game (W.G. Dye, Green, & Bavelier, 2009). This study clearly focuses on the processing
speed of the brain. The author has given a clear distinction between the three aspects studied
which are speed/reaction time (RT), impulsivity and accuracy. The problems between these
three aspects were well distinguished beforehand and predicted reasons for these problems
were stated. One of the important problems discussed in this research was whether any
reduction in reaction time really generalizes to tasks beyond video-game playing and, if it
does, whether it makes gamers more impulsive and have more tendency to making errors. In
short, are expert video-game players just trigger happy, or does video-game reduces
reaction time. This problem is important and should be taken into consideration when
measuring accuracy between players and non-players.

In conclusion, previous studies of video games and cognitive skills that were
reviewed here have some advantages and disadvantage. In the work of Green & Bavelier
2007, vision test were carried out based on certainty so that participants can perform
optimally, but that does not match the way video games are made. Video games are made
based on uncertainty on targets, which requires players to distribute full attention. Next, the
problem in the enumeration test of Green & Bavelier 2006 was the selection of participants
may have not given an accurate result due to some greater natural attention ability in some
participants. Lastly, the brain-speed study have perfectly inter-connected three aspects that
are related to cognitive processing speed and giving good discussion on the results obtained.
Video gaming may therefore provide a methodical training guidance to induce a general
quickening of perceptual reaction times with good attention distribution without decreases in
performance of precision.
Methodology

This research will be using a qualitative method. Participants will be split into two
groups. One of the group will be the treatment group (Group A) and the other is a control
group (Group B). The treatment group will be allowed to play the selected game and later
their cognitive skills will be tested. Participants will be selected from individuals aged 16-19
years old. 5 individuals who have previous gaming experience either in PC or console, will
be in Group A and 5 other individuals who have no gaming experience will be in Group B.

Procedure

Group A participants will have to play 5 matches of the game FIFA 16 and also Left 4
Dead 2 in a console. Participants will have to play against each other in FIFA 16. Each
participants will have a match lasting approximately 4 minutes per half-time and play a level
from campaign mode in Left 4 Dead 2. After the game, participants will be given a
smartphone with the app Tap.Dot pre-installed to test their cognition. In this app,
participants will be challenged to tap as many dots as possible rapidly without missing.
Participants will be given 2 trials to test out the app and the scores will be collected for the 3 rd
trial. Participants final score will be shown on the screen when they missed to tap a dot. The
time will be recorded for every participants in the 3 rd trial. Every participants final score will
then be collected. Participants from Group B will also be required to use the app Tap.Dot.
They will also be given 2 trials and in the 3rd trial, both the scores and time will be recorded.
Then the speed of every participants from both groups will be calculated in terms of dots
tapped per second using the formula :

Total dots tapped4 thtrial

Total time taken( s) = Number of dots tapped per second

(s-1)

Finally, scores from both groups will be compared.

Research Questions
1. Does the game affect cognitive skills of players?
2. What sort of skills does it affect?
3. How does it affect players?
Findings

The results of this experiment significantly shows that those who have played video
games has a higher speed than those who did not play video games. But, the highest number
of dots tapped was achieved by a participant from Group B whom did not play any form of
video games. The lowest number of dots tapped was also achieved by a participant from
Group B. The results from the experiment have been calculated and tabulated as shown in the
tables below :

Results of Group A Participants

Name Dots Tapped (score) Time Taken (s) Speed (dots/s)
Puvanesh 227 58 3.913793103
Fang Min 172 41 4.195121951
Jun Wei 149 37 4.027027027
Sang Soon 143 30 4.766666667
Sam 192 49 3.918367347
Average Score 883 215 4.106976744
Table 1 Results calculated after playing FIFA 16 & Left 4 Dead 2

Results of Group B Participants

Name Dots Tapped (score) Time Taken(s) Speed (dots/s)
Yoong Zeng 77 23 3.347826087
Suriyah 277 91 3.043956044
Yaswinee 92 28 3.285714286
Jivitha 15 5 3
Arwinda 159 50 3.18
Average Score 620 197 3.147208122
Table 2 Results obtained without playing FIFA 16 & Left 4 Dead 2
 Speed Chart of Both Groups
6

0
1 2 3 4 5

Speed A (dots/s) Speed B (dots/s)

Figure 1 compares the speed obtained by participants of both groups A and B

Speed (dots/s)
5

0
Puvanesh Suriyah
 Figure 2 compares the speed of participants who obtained scores above 200 from both groups

Speed (dots/s)
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Sam Arwinda

Figure 3 compares speed of participants who finished within a nearly similar time interval

Discussion

The results obtained will be interpreted in this section providing a better

understanding on the experiment. Better insights on how brain speed is co-related to other
cognitive skills such as hand eye coordination, visual processing, attention, vigilance and
impulsiveness as stated in the thesis statement will be provided.
 First, group A participants has a relatively higher speed as can be seen from Figure 1
above. This experiment suggests that action video game play have enhanced some aspects of
the cognition. Several examples that evidently conclude this. First, Group A participants have
demonstrated enhanced speed and precision even at very high density of dots. Second, the
participants took lesser reaction time to tap the dots shown on the screen. This is because
video games are known to increase cognitive skills like hand-eye coordination, and
impulsivity which leads to increase speed in processing information in the brain (W.G.Dye,
Green, & Bavelier, 2009) which has enabled them to quickly react by tapping the dots shown.
This study extends previous findings on the impact of videogames on cognitive skills by
showing that video-game play can alter visual performance. The app used in testing
participants, Tap.Dot has complex visual tasks that by default the design of the application
relied on uncertainty, such as visual tasks in which the dots location is uncertain and has to be
tapped before the time is out. The results of Group A participants are perhaps unsurprising
given the fast pace of games considered in this experiment.

In addition to that, video games are known to improve hand eye coordination. Since
participants from Group A has had been provided to play selected games, they would have
had a quick reaction upon spotting a dot on the screen. Moreover, video game players would
have more impulsivity than non-video game players which might further reduce their time
taken to tap the dots and giving them a higher speed.

Alternately, a lower speed was obtained by Group B participants. This is due to the
presence of insufficient video gaming experience. Action video game training enhances
several aspects of vision. One aspect involves contrast sensitivity, or the ability to detect
small incremental changes in shades of grey. This ability is considered one of the primary
building blocks of vision. The lack of gaming experience among Group B participants has
made them not used to fast paced moving objects which can improve their cognition. Thus,
they were not able to react quickly to the dots and eventually obtaining a lower score with a
longer time.

Score of 15 was the lowest score obtained in this experiment in a span of 5 seconds.
This is because the participant had troubles with focusing attention. This led to longer
reaction time to tap the dot. When the density of the dots shown on screen were increased,
the participant began to struggle to track the dots and tap it.
 Furthermore, as shown in the tables, one participant from each group has managed to
tap more than 220 dots which were the highest dots tapped for respective groups with the
overall highest being a score of 277 achieved by Suriyah from Group B, non-video game
player. This is probably because the increased speed of processing noted in Group A
participants, who are video game players (VGPs) is often viewed as a trigger-happy
behaviour (responding incorrectly because they do not wait for enough information to
become available/ having a tendency or desire to react before adequately identifying the
target), in which VGPs respond faster but have the tendency make more errors unexpectedly
(W.G.Dye, Green, & Bavelier, 2009). This is also in relation to accuracy of the brain to
process information and provide the right reaction quickly.

Subsequently, Sam and Arwinda from Group A and Group B respectively had
recorded almost similar time in the experiment but with varying scores giving Sam the higher
score. In this case, the experience from observing many players in FIFA 16 and zombies form
Left 4 Dead 2, gave an advantage to the participant from Group A by scoring higher in the
nearly same time interval as the participant from Group B. This might be because the
participant from Group A got used to tracking fast moving objects from the video game and
this has made it easier to tap the dots accurately across space.

Video game players have been reported to show improved hand eye coordination,
increased visual processing, and greater selective attention. This crucial ability to select task
relevant items and lter out irrelevant items enhances with action video gaming A couple of
published accuracy studies have stated that playing action video games enhances
performance on tasks that measures different aspects of visual attention, including the ability
to distribute attention across space, efficiently perform multitasks, track several moving
objects at once, and process streams of shortly presented visual stimuli (Green & Bavelier,
2007) (Green & Bavelier, Action video game modies visual selective attention, 2003).

By forcing players to handle a number of varied tasks at the same time (detect new
enemies, track existing enemies and avoid getting hurt, keep track of the surrounding),
action-video-game playing pushes the boundary of rather different aspects of visual attention.
It has also proven to train players to make quick and accurate decision while playing. Same
goes to FIFA 16, where video game players have to keep track of the position of their players
while controlling the ball to stay in possession throughout the whole match to score goals. In
common, both these games would improve the coordination of hands with eyes. Therefore,
although video game playing may seem to be rather mindless, it is capable of extensively
altering visual attentional processing, vision, speed and other cognitive related skills. Rather
than these two selected games, there are number of other games which focus on enhancing an
individuals cognitive skills over time.
Conclusion

The thesis statement for this research is video games increases cognitive skills by
improving attention, vision, multi-task/hand-eye coordination, impulsiveness and vigilance.
The findings from this experiment show that video games indeed improve the cognitive skills
such as stated in the thesis statement.

The first research question Did the video games affect cognitive skills?. Yes, the
games affect cognitive skills of the players. This can be seen in the findings obtained. It
showed the VGPs had a faster speed than NVGPs. This indicates that video game players had
other cognitive skills better than NVGPs, which are required to give VGPs an edge over in
speed.

The second research question is What sort of skills did it affect?. Playing video
games can improve vision and attention. For instance, action games rely on the concept of
uncertainty of threats, which need players to be aware to their surroundings. Next, it
improves speed of processing information. This skill is trained when the players are required
to react quickly to the threats in-game. Third, is the enhancement of hand-eye coordination.
When players get used to video games, automatically their hand and eye work together, by
looking at the screen and at the same time controlling their character on-screen efficiently
than non-video game players.

The third research question How the games affect the cognitive skills?. Two main
aspects of gaming are vision and hand movement. Since, video gaming depend on these two
aspects, prolong gameplay experience will train the players to be more effective and have
flawless hand-eye coordination. In time, this will lead to enhanced reaction time (speed) and
attention to threats, by being aware to even the slightest change in the surroundings. All these
skills work together when playing a videogame, overtime they become more impeccable.
This is how it made the players to have improved cognitive skills.

In conclusion, according to the findings video game indeed improve cognitive

skills. The limitations of this research would be, is that it is carried out in a small group of
people from a fixed age group, mostly teenagers. Moreover, only two genres of games were
used in this experiment, which limits the findings to these two games only. Future
experiments should be tested on various age groups of participants, and different genres of
games on different platforms to identify and prove which type of games benefit cognitive
skills.

References

Eichenbaum, A., Bavelier, D., & Green, C. (2014). Video Games Play That Can Do Serious
Good. American Journal of Play, 50-72.
Granic, I., Lobel, A., & C.M.E Engels, R. (2014). American Psychologist. The Benefits of
Playing Video Games, 66-78.
Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modies visual selective attention.
Nature, 534-537.
Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2006). enumeration versus multiple object tracking: the case of
action video game players. Cognition 101, 217-245.
Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2007). Action-Video-Game Experience Alters the Spatial
Resolution of Vision. Asscociation for Psychological Science, 88-94.
Green, C., & R.Seitz, A. (2015). The Impacts of Video Games On Cognition (and How the
Government Can Guide the Industry). Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain
Sciences, 10.
W. G. Dye, M., Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2009). Increasing Speed of Processing With
Action Video Games . Asscociation for Psychological Science, 321-326.