These studies have solidified this author’s belief that structured exposure to video games and similar interactive mediums can produce positive impacts on attention and similar cognitive processes. There are, at the very least, correlative factors between improved visual attention & reaction time and commercial video games. This information not only follows current understandings of performance increases due to exposure (both physically and mentally) but shows promising of being the future of mental improvement and entertainment in ways that no other currently existing medium does.
This author stipulates that we see improved visual and cognitive attention using videogames due to their incentivization of these skills. Faster reaction and greater attention results in more information being processed, there for the better decision being made quicker within the context of the game. This isn’t the case across every video game that is played, look at puzzle games or games that have an objective that doesn’t required timely reactions. The study that used DKBT saw minimum reaction time decreases due to its lack of incentivization and training for it, opting instead for greater task focus (Giglio et al., 2015). When considering games like Halo, League of Legends, and Call of Duty, we see games that are incentivizing faster decisions and actions from players.
During activities like exercising a muscle or recalling specific words, repetition can be seen to improve the task or ability that is being repeated (Park & Donaldson, 2016). We can see the presence of repetition priming within both physical and mental actions, and it’s possible that this also applies to the effects of video games on attention. Consider the individuals exposed to a game comprised of fast-moving enemies and objectives demonstrated a greater speed follow their session (Broodbeck & Depuis, 2020). Even when looking longer term, individuals that spend many hours playing a game, demonstrate faster response speeds (Qiu et al., 2018). Some may argue that this could be a misnomer; individuals that natural have better attention spans will be drawn to video games that prioritize this. However, when considering the documented increases performance in attentional tasks across these studies, most of which do not select for experience with video games, this appears less likely.
Digital mediums allow for more direct interaction between brain and interface compared to other interactive activities, such as sports. There are generally fewer motor requirements, and it could be argued that video games are more specifically working cognition than sport. The closest comparison in terms of ‘isolated’ cognitive stimulation could be seen as crosswords and similar puzzles. Herein lies another strength of the growing interactive digital medium, their ability to engage and immerse.
Researchers within the Simon Effect study found that while attrition occurred within several groups, none of these individuals were in the Xbox group, citing it “provided a much more immersive gaming environment” (Hutchinson et al., 2016). Video games can immerse users within their world, allowing for greater retention and therefor greater improvements than a less immersive medium. Pair this with their nearly endless number of genres, game modes, and play styles, and finding a video game that is engaging to any individuals is almost a certainty. For example, League of Legends consists of a roster of 155 playable characters that the user can choose from. Within each of these characters there are several ways to use their abilities or in-game items to match the player’s intentions. With so many options and action autonomy, video games appear to improve attentional task ability while keeping the individual hooked.
In conclusion, Video games and similarly interactive digital media have been found to have a positive correlation on an individual attentional task. This paper compared several studies that found significant improvements to participant’s visual attention with the aid of both commercial and study-specific video games and digital trainers.