<p><a href="http://vision.psych.umn.edu/users/csgreen/Publications/csg_CNofVGP.pdf">The Cognitive Neuroscience of Video Games</a> (C. S. Green, D. Bavelier, 2004) is a good if somewhat dated overview of cognitive research on video game players. They note that ordinary video game users show a number of differentiated and improved mental skills:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Video game play has been shown to dramatically
  enhance visuo-motor skills.  In particular, video game players have been shown to
  possess decreased reaction times, increased hand-eye coordination and augmented
  manual dexterity.  Video game play has also been shown to improve spatial skills such as
  mental rotation, spatial visualization and the ability to mentally work in threedimensions.  In addition, video game play has been shown to enhance numerous aspects
  of visual attention including the ability to divide and switch attention, the temporal and
  spatial resolution of visual attention, and the number of objects that can be attended.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://hci.usask.ca/publications/view.php?id=231">BrainHex: Preliminary Results from a Neurobiological Gamer Typology Survey</a> is a study that mapped personality types to "gamer archetypes":</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The model presents seven different archetypes of players: Seeker, Survivor, Daredevil, Mastermind, Conqueror, Socialiser, and Achiever. We explain how each of these player archetypes relates to older player typologies (such as Myers-Briggs), and how each archetype characterizes a specific playing style. We conducted a survey among more than 50,000 players using the BrainHex model as a personality type motivator to gather and compare demographic data to the different BrainHex archetypes. We discuss some results from this survey with a focus on psychometric orientation of respondents, to establish relationships between personality types and BrainHex archetypes.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Their archetypes present an interesting insight into personality types as mapped to certain kinds of gamers.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-20T14:50:24.007Z
2012-02-21T15:43:12.370Z
2012-02-21T15:43:12.370Z
Zelda
<p>This is not my research field, but I'm also very interested in this topic. As far as I know there has not been much research done but two articles of interest are:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Washburn, D. A. (2003). <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03202541">The games psychologists play (and the data
they provide).</a> <em>Behavior research methods, instruments &amp; computers</em>,
35(2), 185-193. Psychonomic Society Publications. </p>

<p>This is a (rather old) review article of how computer games have been
used in psychological research.</p></li>
<li><p>Frey, A., Hartig, J., Ketzel, A., Zinkernagel, A., &amp; Moosbrugger, H. (2007). <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2006.02.010">The use of virtual environments based on a modification of the computer game Quake III Arena® in psychological experimenting.</a> <em>Computers in Human Behavior</em>, 23(4), 2026-2039.</p>

<p>This is a study where they used a modified version of the Quake III engine to look at a quite diverse set of variables. I find the use of Quake III to investigate navigation behavior the most interesting part of the study.</p></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-28T09:44:59.943Z
2012-02-28T13:41:03.893Z
2012-02-28T13:41:03.893Z
Rasmus Bååth
<p>The whole of the research on this topic has some very, very serious methodological flaws, which mean there is currently surprisingly little evidence that video games or expert gamers are somehow 'special'. In particular, there are serious concerns regarding <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_characteristics">demand characteristics</a>. </p>

<p>Don't just take my word for it, take a look at the extremely comprehensive and detailed paper by <a href="http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00226">Boot et al. (2011)</a>.
It's open access, too!</p>

<p>Here's a choice quote:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>One possible factor that could lead to the spurious conclusion of
  gaming beneﬁts on cognition is differential expectations for experts
  and novices. If gamers are recruited to a study because of their
  gaming experience, they might expect to perform well because of their
  expertise, and a belief that you should perform well can inﬂuence
  performance on measures as basic as visual acuity (Langer et al.,
  2010). Imagine that you are recruited to participate in a study
  because of your gaming expertise, and the study consists of game like
  computer tasks. If you know you have been recruited because you are an
  expert, the <strong>demand characteristics</strong> of the experimental situation will
  motivate you to try to perform well. In contrast, a non-gamer selected
  without any mention of gaming will not experience such demand
  characteristics, so will be less motivated. Any difference in task
  performance, then, would be analogous to a placebo effect. </p>
  
  <p>Almost all
  studies comparing expert and novice gamers either neglect to report
  how subjects were recruited or make no effort to hide the nature of
  the study from participants. Many studies recruit experts through
  advertisements explicitly seeking people with game experience,
  thereby violating a core principle of experimental design and
  introducing the potential for differential demand characteristics
  (<a href="http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00226">Boot et al., 2008</a>;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2008.09.005">Colzato et al., 2010</a>;[Karle et al., 2010<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20064634">4</a>). The
  problem is ampliﬁed because gamers often are familiar with media and
  blog coverage of the beneﬁts of gaming, so they expect to perform better when they have been recruited for their gaming expertise.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><sub>
Boot, W. R., Blakely, D. P., &amp; Simons, D. J. (2011). <a href="http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00226">Do action video games improve perception and cognition?</a>. Frontiers in psychology, 2.<br>
Boot, W. R., Kramer, A. F., Simons, D. J., Fabiani, M., and Gratton, G. (2008). <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2008.09.005">The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control.</a> Acta Psychol. (Amst.) 129, 387–398.<br>
Colzato, L. S., van Leeuwen, P. J. A., van den Wildenberg, W. P. M., and Hommel, B. (2010). DOOM’d to switch: superior cognitive flexibility in players of first person shooter games. Front. Psychol. 1, 1–5.<br>
Karle, J. W., Watter, S., and Shedden, J. M. (2010). <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20064634">Task switching in video game players: benefits of selective attention but not resistance to proactive interference.</a> Acta Psychol. (Amst.) 134, 70–78.
</sub></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T15:40:04.103Z
2012-11-19T19:44:09.523Z
2012-11-19T19:44:09.523Z
vizzero
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2005.10.004">Playing action video games improves performance</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subitizing">subitizing</a> and <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Multiple_object_tracking">multiple object tracking</a>, both of which are abilities involving attending to multiple objects at once. Note that it's a causal relationship; people who don't play action video games show improvements in those two abilities after playing for a while.</p>

<p>More generally, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2009.01054.x">playing action video games is associated with perceptual learning</a>, suggesting that "avid video game players are better able to form templates for, or extract the relevant statistics of, the task at hand".</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-19T06:20:37.963Z
2012-01-19T06:20:37.963Z
Mark Lapierre
<p>I and other colleagues have published a paper on the cognitive impacts of MMORPGs:</p>

<p><a href="http://reallyengagingaccounting.wikispaces.com/file/view/Computers+in+Human+%E2%80%A6+2010+Campello+de+Souza.pdf">Link to full text here</a></p>

<p>The work also reviews some of the literature regarding the psychology of computer games and a new framework for the understanding of cognition in the digital age. </p>

<p>I hope this helps.</p>

<p>Abstract: </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The present paper attempts to empirically study the cognitive impacts
  of Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) in
  uncontrolled contexts in light of the Cognitive Mediation Networks
  Theory, a new model of human intelligence that aims to explain
  cognition as the result of brain activity combined with the
  information-processing done by external structures such as tools,
  social groups and culture. A sample of 1280 students Brazilian high
  school students answered a form inquiring about socio-demographic
  information plus the use of computer games, and also was submitted to
  a short knowledge exam and a mini psychometric test. The ﬁndings
  indicated that, due to their underlying structure and sociocultural
  nature, MMORPGs are associated to a greater level of insertion into
  the Digital Age, higher levels of logical-numerical performance, and
  better scholastic ability. Finally, suggestions are made for future
  studies on the subject.</p>
</blockquote>

<h3>References</h3>

<ul>
<li>Campello de Souza, B., De Lima E Silva, L.X. &amp; Roazzi, A. (2010). MMORPGS and cognitive performance: A study with 1280 Brazilian high school students. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 1564-1573.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-20T15:53:28.820Z
2012-08-21T08:07:38.013Z
2012-08-21T08:07:38.013Z
Bruno Campello de Souza
<p>A few tasks that come to mind:</p>

<ul>
<li>Space Fortress by <a href="http://cogworks.cogsci.rpi.edu/research_projects/active" rel="nofollow">The CogWorks Lab</a>, an <em>"action video game that requires constant shifts of attention, memory retrievals, visual tracking, fine motor control, and dynamic decision making..."</em>:
<ul>
<li>There was a whole program of research built around this game: see the <a href="http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?gcx=c&amp;client=ubuntu&amp;channel=cs&amp;q=space+fortress&amp;um=1&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=N&amp;tab=ws" rel="nofollow">Google Scholar results</a> and a discussion <a href="http://jtoomim.org/brain-training/the%20space%20fortress%20game.pdf" rel="nofollow">here</a>(Mane, &amp; Donchin, 1989).</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Kanfer-Ackerman Air Traffic Control Task: 
<ul>
<li>see <a href="http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?gcx=c&amp;client=ubuntu&amp;channel=cs&amp;q=Kanfer-Ackerman+Air+Traffic+Control+Task&amp;um=1&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=N&amp;tab=ws" rel="nofollow">Google Scholar links</a></li>
<li>A number of researchers have done cognitive modelling using this simplified air traffic control simulator. It's not a commercial video game, but a lot of the ideas around rules and points are the same.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-19T02:39:39.490Z
2012-11-19T18:30:21.837Z
2012-11-19T18:30:21.837Z
Jeromy Anglim
<p>It depends on what you mean by "recent".  I assume you know of the following?</p>

<p>Green CS, Bavelier D.  (2003) <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v423/n6939/abs/nature01647.html" rel="nofollow">Action video game modifies visual selective attention.</a>  Nature. 2003 May 29;423(6939):534-7, <a href="http://www.bcs.rochester.edu/people/alex/pub/articles/PougetDhttp://www.bcs.rochester.edu/people/daphne/VisionPDF/GreenandBavelier2003.pdf" rel="nofollow">free pdf</a>.</p>

<p>To quote the abstract:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in today's
  society, it is worth considering its potential consequences on
  perceptual and motor skills. It is well known that exposing an
  organism to an altered visual environment often results in
  modification of the visual system of the organism. The field of
  perceptual learning provides many examples of training-induced
  increases in performance. But perceptual learning, when it occurs,
  tends to be specific to the trained task; that is, generalization to
  new tasks is rarely found1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Here we show,
  by contrast, that action-video-game playing is capable of altering a
  range of visual skills. Four experiments establish changes in
  different aspects of visual attention in habitual video-game players
  as compared with non-video-game players. In a fifth experiment,
  non-players trained on an action video game show marked improvement
  from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of
  playing in this effect.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-06-17T17:57:01.480Z
Anna, could you explain a bit about how the study you cited answered the question?  It would make your answer much more useful to people finding it in the future.
Chuck Sherrington
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-07T14:28:19.967Z
2012-06-18T03:21:41.367Z
2012-06-18T03:21:41.367Z
Anna L Cox
<p>Nick Yee in Palo Alto is doing a lot of work with second-life and other virtual worlds looking at mostly social psychological questions. He seems to be making use of the full range of data available in the virtual world as you suggest above. </p>

<p><a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=author%3Ayee+%22second-life%22">Google Scholar search: author:yee "second-life"</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-15T23:12:52.347Z
2012-10-15T23:12:52.347Z
jflournoy
<p>Just like brain training research - see this great recent study by <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09042" rel="nofollow">Owen et al. 2010</a> - there is little good evidence to show any causal long term and generalisable effects of playing video games.</p>

<p>However, to answer the original question: I found that video game players had higher speed and reasoning ability in a small sample paper based on my PhD research developing <a href="http://www.mendeley.com/research/assessing-the-validity-of-computergamelike-tests-of-processing-speed-and-working-memory/" rel="nofollow">computer-game-like ability tests</a>. (McPherson, J., &amp; Burns, N. R. 2008)</p>

<p>People who like playing games might be good at things required for playing games. Just like people who really like and are good at certain sports might often have the right skills and body type to be good at it.</p>

<p>The research showing training effects often involves short term improvements and tasks very similar to the training tasks - this is important. Short term non-generalisable improvements are not the same as psychological traits.</p>

<p><sub>
Owen, A. M., Hampshire, A., Grahn, J. A., Stenton, R., Dajani, S., Burns, A. S., ... &amp; Ballard, C. G. (2010). <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09042" rel="nofollow">Putting brain training to the test.</a> Nature, 465(7299), 775-778.<br>
McPherson, J., &amp; Burns, N. R. (2008). <a href="http://www.mendeley.com/research/assessing-the-validity-of-computergamelike-tests-of-processing-speed-and-working-memory/" rel="nofollow">Assessing the validity of computer-game-like tests of processing speed and working memory.</a> Behavior research methods, 40(4), 969-981.
</sub></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-21T15:04:09.507Z
2012-11-19T19:06:37.460Z
2012-11-19T19:06:37.460Z
Jason McPherson
<p>although this is self promotion in a sense, I completed a PhD in which I tried to look at all the research linking computer game performance to other cognitive abilities. The last <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758%2FBRM.40.4.969" rel="nofollow">paper published</a><sup>1</sup> as a result of this summarises some of the research I found and also what I found in using computer-game-like cognitive tests.</p>

<p>This is a fascinating area and I think we will some great work in the near future on this. I'd love to hear of any other work out there too.</p>

<p><hr> 
<sup>1</sup> McPherson J., Burns NR. (2008) Assessing the validity of computer-game-like tests of processing speed and working memory</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-06-28T17:55:25.323Z
Can you summarize the findings to make the answer self contained?
Artem Kaznatcheev
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-21T14:21:41.340Z
2015-09-14T18:09:26.403Z
2015-09-14T18:09:26.403Z
Jason McPherson
<p>Video game training has long been shown to influence perceptual-motor skills, but also <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12774121">visual selective attention</a>,<sup>(1)</sup> although it might well involve a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15106651">mix of pre attentive and attentive processing</a>. I have no difficulties imagining there are some key studies on fastest adaptation in children as compared to older people, where effects are probably expressed differently depending on culture and/or early exposition to new technologies. However, I've noticed that video game were successfully introduced in rehabilitation service (e.g., Drew &amp; Waters, <a href="http://www.mendeley.com/research/video-games-utilization-novel-strategy-improve-perceptual-motor-skills-cognitive-functioning-non-institutionalized-elderly/">Video Games: Utilization of a novel strategy to improve perceptual motor skills and cognitive functioning in the noninstitutionalized elderly</a>, <em>Cognitive Rehabilitation</em> 4(2):26, 1986) as well, which means that such positive effects extend beyond childhood</p>

<hr>

<p><sub><sup>(1)</sup> Green and Bavelier also authored a chapter, <a href="http://vision.psych.umn.edu/users/csgreen/Publications/csg_CNofVGP.pdf">The Cognitive Neuroscience of Video Games</a>, in <em>Digital Media:Transformations in Human Communication</em> (Messaris and Humphreys, ed., 2006, ISBN 978-0820478401).</sub></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-19T14:01:58.683Z
2012-01-19T14:01:58.683Z
chl
<p>Call it a nerd crossover, but I've always been curious about how we play games on a mechanistic level. However, even coming from a rational viewpoint video games seem like a fruitful domain of study, since data collection is simple and complete, environmental variables can be easily manipulated, and the task is far richer than typically used in cognitive psychology experiments.</p>

<p>So, have any psychological theories been formed by/applied to in this domain? It seems like eye-tracking and cognitive modeling approaches are both particularly well suited to this domain, but any work in cognitive science on the phenomena involved here would be interesting to see.</p>

<p>The only things I've found are the interesting experimental work on <a href="http://adrenaline.ucsd.edu/kirsh/articles/perceptiveactions/perceptive.pdf">semantic actions in Tetris</a>, and some modeling work done on <a href="http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/papers/457/lee03.pdf">unreal tournament within the ACT-R community</a>. It should be noted however, that the latter example uses a video game environment as decent simulation of reality and thus models an <em>agent inside the game</em>, whilst the former focuses on the game from the <em>player's point of view</em>. This might be a personal bias, but the latter seems much more fruitful and more in line with the spirit of my question.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-19T15:32:35.727Z
'Any work', seems a bit like a broad question. What particular effects are you interested in?
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-19T22:13:43.380Z
This is one of the rare cases where I'm more interested in the methodological possibilities than any specific effects per se. I figured the small domain warranted a broad question.
zergylord
<cognitive-modeling><perception><video-games>
Any work being done on Perception, Action, and/or Cognition in Video games?
zergylord
# Any work being done on Perception, Action, and/or Cognition in Video games?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-01-19)

Call it a nerd crossover, but I've always been curious about how we play games on a mechanistic level. However, even coming from a rational viewpoint video games seem like a fruitful domain of study, since data collection is simple and complete, environmental variables can be easily manipulated, and the task is far richer than typically used in cognitive psychology experiments.

So, have any psychological theories been formed by/applied to in this domain? It seems like eye-tracking and cognitive modeling approaches are both particularly well suited to this domain, but any work in cognitive science on the phenomena involved here would be interesting to see.

The only things I've found are the interesting experimental work on [semantic actions in Tetris](http://adrenaline.ucsd.edu/kirsh/articles/perceptiveactions/perceptive.pdf), and some modeling work done on [unreal tournament within the ACT-R community](http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/papers/457/lee03.pdf). It should be noted however, that the latter example uses a video game environment as decent simulation of reality and thus models an *agent inside the game*, whilst the former focuses on the game from the *player's point of view*. This might be a personal bias, but the latter seems much more fruitful and more in line with the spirit of my question.

**Tags:** cognitive-modeling, perception, video-games

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 'Any work', seems a bit like a broad question. What particular effects are you interested in?  
> **username_0**: This is one of the rare cases where I'm more interested in the methodological possibilities than any specific effects per se. I figured the small domain warranted a broad question.  

---

## 11 answers

### Answer by username_13 on 2012-01-19. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

Video game training has long been shown to influence perceptual-motor skills, but also [visual selective attention](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12774121),(1) although it might well involve a [mix of pre attentive and attentive processing](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15106651). I have no difficulties imagining there are some key studies on fastest adaptation in children as compared to older people, where effects are probably expressed differently depending on culture and/or early exposition to new technologies. However, I've noticed that video game were successfully introduced in rehabilitation service (e.g., Drew & Waters, [Video Games: Utilization of a novel strategy to improve perceptual motor skills and cognitive functioning in the noninstitutionalized elderly](http://www.mendeley.com/research/video-games-utilization-novel-strategy-improve-perceptual-motor-skills-cognitive-functioning-non-institutionalized-elderly/), *Cognitive Rehabilitation* 4(2):26, 1986) as well, which means that such positive effects extend beyond childhood

---

(1) Green and Bavelier also authored a chapter, [The Cognitive Neuroscience of Video Games](http://vision.psych.umn.edu/users/csgreen/Publications/csg_CNofVGP.pdf), in *Digital Media:Transformations in Human Communication* (Messaris and Humphreys, ed., 2006, ISBN 978-0820478401).


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-01-20. Score: 16

[The Cognitive Neuroscience of Video Games](http://vision.psych.umn.edu/users/csgreen/Publications/csg_CNofVGP.pdf) (C. S. Green, D. Bavelier, 2004) is a good if somewhat dated overview of cognitive research on video game players. They note that ordinary video game users show a number of differentiated and improved mental skills:

> Video game play has been shown to dramatically
> enhance visuo-motor skills. In particular, video game players have been shown to
> possess decreased reaction times, increased hand-eye coordination and augmented
> manual dexterity. Video game play has also been shown to improve spatial skills such as
> mental rotation, spatial visualization and the ability to mentally work in threedimensions. In addition, video game play has been shown to enhance numerous aspects
> of visual attention including the ability to divide and switch attention, the temporal and
> spatial resolution of visual attention, and the number of objects that can be attended.

[BrainHex: Preliminary Results from a Neurobiological Gamer Typology Survey](http://hci.usask.ca/publications/view.php?id=231) is a study that mapped personality types to "gamer archetypes":

> The model presents seven different archetypes of players: Seeker, Survivor, Daredevil, Mastermind, Conqueror, Socialiser, and Achiever. We explain how each of these player archetypes relates to older player typologies (such as Myers-Briggs), and how each archetype characterizes a specific playing style. We conducted a survey among more than 50,000 players using the BrainHex model as a personality type motivator to gather and compare demographic data to the different BrainHex archetypes. We discuss some results from this survey with a focus on psychometric orientation of respondents, to establish relationships between personality types and BrainHex archetypes.

Their archetypes present an interesting insight into personality types as mapped to certain kinds of gamers.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2012-02-28. Score: 12

This is not my research field, but I'm also very interested in this topic. As far as I know there has not been much research done but two articles of interest are:

* Washburn, D. A. (2003). [The games psychologists play (and the data
  they provide).](http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03202541) *Behavior research methods, instruments & computers*,
  35(2), 185-193. Psychonomic Society Publications.

  This is a (rather old) review article of how computer games have been
  used in psychological research.
* Frey, A., Hartig, J., Ketzel, A., Zinkernagel, A., & Moosbrugger, H. (2007). [The use of virtual environments based on a modification of the computer game Quake III Arena® in psychological experimenting.](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2006.02.010) *Computers in Human Behavior*, 23(4), 2026-2039.

  This is a study where they used a modified version of the Quake III engine to look at a quite diverse set of variables. I find the use of Quake III to investigate navigation behavior the most interesting part of the study.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2012-03-02. Score: 12

The whole of the research on this topic has some very, very serious methodological flaws, which mean there is currently surprisingly little evidence that video games or expert gamers are somehow 'special'. In particular, there are serious concerns regarding [demand characteristics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_characteristics).

Don't just take my word for it, take a look at the extremely comprehensive and detailed paper by [Boot et al. (2011)](http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00226).
It's open access, too!

Here's a choice quote:

> One possible factor that could lead to the spurious conclusion of
> gaming beneﬁts on cognition is differential expectations for experts
> and novices. If gamers are recruited to a study because of their
> gaming experience, they might expect to perform well because of their
> expertise, and a belief that you should perform well can inﬂuence
> performance on measures as basic as visual acuity (Langer et al.,
> 2010). Imagine that you are recruited to participate in a study
> because of your gaming expertise, and the study consists of game like
> computer tasks. If you know you have been recruited because you are an
> expert, the **demand characteristics** of the experimental situation will
> motivate you to try to perform well. In contrast, a non-gamer selected
> without any mention of gaming will not experience such demand
> characteristics, so will be less motivated. Any difference in task
> performance, then, would be analogous to a placebo effect.
>
> Almost all
> studies comparing expert and novice gamers either neglect to report
> how subjects were recruited or make no effort to hide the nature of
> the study from participants. Many studies recruit experts through
> advertisements explicitly seeking people with game experience,
> thereby violating a core principle of experimental design and
> introducing the potential for differential demand characteristics
> ([Boot et al., 2008](http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00226);[Colzato et al., 2010](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2008.09.005);[Karle et al., 2010[4](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20064634)). The
> problem is ampliﬁed because gamers often are familiar with media and
> blog coverage of the beneﬁts of gaming, so they expect to perform better when they have been recruited for their gaming expertise.

Boot, W. R., Blakely, D. P., & Simons, D. J. (2011). [Do action video games improve perception and cognition?](http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00226). Frontiers in psychology, 2.  
Boot, W. R., Kramer, A. F., Simons, D. J., Fabiani, M., and Gratton, G. (2008). [The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control.](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2008.09.005) Acta Psychol. (Amst.) 129, 387–398.  
Colzato, L. S., van Leeuwen, P. J. A., van den Wildenberg, W. P. M., and Hommel, B. (2010). DOOM’d to switch: superior cognitive flexibility in players of first person shooter games. Front. Psychol. 1, 1–5.  
Karle, J. W., Watter, S., and Shedden, J. M. (2010). [Task switching in video game players: benefits of selective attention but not resistance to proactive interference.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20064634) Acta Psychol. (Amst.) 134, 70–78.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2012-01-19. Score: 12

[Playing action video games improves performance](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2005.10.004) in [subitizing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subitizing) and [multiple object tracking](http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Multiple_object_tracking), both of which are abilities involving attending to multiple objects at once. Note that it's a causal relationship; people who don't play action video games show improvements in those two abilities after playing for a while.

More generally, [playing action video games is associated with perceptual learning](http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2009.01054.x), suggesting that "avid video game players are better able to form templates for, or extract the relevant statistics of, the task at hand".


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### Answer by username_6 on 2012-08-20. Score: 10

I and other colleagues have published a paper on the cognitive impacts of MMORPGs:

[Link to full text here](http://reallyengagingaccounting.wikispaces.com/file/view/Computers+in+Human+%E2%80%A6+2010+Campello+de+Souza.pdf)

The work also reviews some of the literature regarding the psychology of computer games and a new framework for the understanding of cognition in the digital age.

I hope this helps.

Abstract:

> The present paper attempts to empirically study the cognitive impacts
> of Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) in
> uncontrolled contexts in light of the Cognitive Mediation Networks
> Theory, a new model of human intelligence that aims to explain
> cognition as the result of brain activity combined with the
> information-processing done by external structures such as tools,
> social groups and culture. A sample of 1280 students Brazilian high
> school students answered a form inquiring about socio-demographic
> information plus the use of computer games, and also was submitted to
> a short knowledge exam and a mini psychometric test. The ﬁndings
> indicated that, due to their underlying structure and sociocultural
> nature, MMORPGs are associated to a greater level of insertion into
> the Digital Age, higher levels of logical-numerical performance, and
> better scholastic ability. Finally, suggestions are made for future
> studies on the subject.

### References

* Campello de Souza, B., De Lima E Silva, L.X. & Roazzi, A. (2010). MMORPGS and cognitive performance: A study with 1280 Brazilian high school students. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 1564-1573.


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### Answer by username_11 on 2012-02-21. Score: 8

Just like brain training research - see this great recent study by [Owen et al. 2010](http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09042) - there is little good evidence to show any causal long term and generalisable effects of playing video games.

However, to answer the original question: I found that video game players had higher speed and reasoning ability in a small sample paper based on my PhD research developing [computer-game-like ability tests](http://www.mendeley.com/research/assessing-the-validity-of-computergamelike-tests-of-processing-speed-and-working-memory/). (McPherson, J., & Burns, N. R. 2008)

People who like playing games might be good at things required for playing games. Just like people who really like and are good at certain sports might often have the right skills and body type to be good at it.

The research showing training effects often involves short term improvements and tasks very similar to the training tasks - this is important. Short term non-generalisable improvements are not the same as psychological traits.

Owen, A. M., Hampshire, A., Grahn, J. A., Stenton, R., Dajani, S., Burns, A. S., ... & Ballard, C. G. (2010). [Putting brain training to the test.](http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09042) Nature, 465(7299), 775-778.  
McPherson, J., & Burns, N. R. (2008). [Assessing the validity of computer-game-like tests of processing speed and working memory.](http://www.mendeley.com/research/assessing-the-validity-of-computergamelike-tests-of-processing-speed-and-working-memory/) Behavior research methods, 40(4), 969-981.


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### Answer by username_7 on 2012-01-19. Score: 6

A few tasks that come to mind:

* Space Fortress by [The CogWorks Lab](http://cogworks.cogsci.rpi.edu/research_projects/active), an *"action video game that requires constant shifts of attention, memory retrievals, visual tracking, fine motor control, and dynamic decision making..."*:
  + There was a whole program of research built around this game: see the [Google Scholar results](http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?gcx=c&client=ubuntu&channel=cs&q=space+fortress&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=ws) and a discussion [here](http://jtoomim.org/brain-training/the%20space%20fortress%20game.pdf)(Mane, & Donchin, 1989).
* Kanfer-Ackerman Air Traffic Control Task:
  + see [Google Scholar links](http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?gcx=c&client=ubuntu&channel=cs&q=Kanfer-Ackerman+Air+Traffic+Control+Task&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=ws)
  + A number of researchers have done cognitive modelling using this simplified air traffic control simulator. It's not a commercial video game, but a lot of the ideas around rules and points are the same.


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### Answer by username_8 on 2012-03-07. Score: 5

It depends on what you mean by "recent". I assume you know of the following?

Green CS, Bavelier D. (2003) [Action video game modifies visual selective attention.](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v423/n6939/abs/nature01647.html) Nature. 2003 May 29;423(6939):534-7, [free pdf](http://www.bcs.rochester.edu/people/alex/pub/articles/PougetDhttp://www.bcs.rochester.edu/people/daphne/VisionPDF/GreenandBavelier2003.pdf).

To quote the abstract:

> As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in today's
> society, it is worth considering its potential consequences on
> perceptual and motor skills. It is well known that exposing an
> organism to an altered visual environment often results in
> modification of the visual system of the organism. The field of
> perceptual learning provides many examples of training-induced
> increases in performance. But perceptual learning, when it occurs,
> tends to be specific to the trained task; that is, generalization to
> new tasks is rarely found1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Here we show,
> by contrast, that action-video-game playing is capable of altering a
> range of visual skills. Four experiments establish changes in
> different aspects of visual attention in habitual video-game players
> as compared with non-video-game players. In a fifth experiment,
> non-players trained on an action video game show marked improvement
> from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of
> playing in this effect.

> **Comments:**
> **username_9**: Anna, could you explain a bit about how the study you cited answered the question?  It would make your answer much more useful to people finding it in the future.  

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### Answer by username_10 on 2012-10-15. Score: 5

Nick Yee in Palo Alto is doing a lot of work with second-life and other virtual worlds looking at mostly social psychological questions. He seems to be making use of the full range of data available in the virtual world as you suggest above.

[Google Scholar search: author:yee "second-life"](http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=author%3Ayee+%22second-life%22)


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### Answer by username_11 on 2012-02-21. Score: 4

although this is self promotion in a sense, I completed a PhD in which I tried to look at all the research linking computer game performance to other cognitive abilities. The last [paper published](http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758%2FBRM.40.4.969)1 as a result of this summarises some of the research I found and also what I found in using computer-game-like cognitive tests.

This is a fascinating area and I think we will some great work in the near future on this. I'd love to hear of any other work out there too.

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1 McPherson J., Burns NR. (2008) Assessing the validity of computer-game-like tests of processing speed and working memory

> **Comments:**
> **username_12**: Can you summarize the findings to make the answer self contained?  

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