Abstract
Abstract: This exploratory study examined the video gaming experience of 160 urban public-school preteen-age students as well as the association between video game play and students’ performance on a standardized cognitive ability test (CogAT), which includes verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal/spatial batteries. Overall, neither duration of play nor video game genres played had significant correlations with the CogAT measures. Similarly, when using an “extreme-groups” approach to examine relations with playing a subset of games previously linked with certain enhancements in cognitive skill (i.e., action video games), no significant effects were observed. These results are thus inconsistent with theories that predict diminished cognitive performance in children who play a great deal of video games, but they are also inconsistent with previous work suggesting possible enhancements in those who play certain types of games. The potential contribution of this null finding and an alternative explanation are discussed.
References
(2019). Association between screen media use and academic performance among children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 173(11), 1058–1067. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.3176
(2018). Meta-analysis of action video game impact on perceptual, attentional, and cognitive skills. Psychological Bulletin, 144(1), 77–110. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000130
Bowman, N. D. (Ed.). (2018). Video games: A medium that demands our attention. Routledge.
(2007). Relation of adolescent video game play to time spent in other activities. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 161(7), 684–689. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/570716
(2017). Associations between avid action and real-time strategy game play and cognitive performance: A pilot study. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 1(3), 295–317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0021-8
(2020). A new look at the cognitive neuroscience of video game play. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1464(1), 192–203. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14295
(2019). Cognitive abilities of action video game and role-playing video game players: Data from a massive open online course. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000237
(2011). The number sense: How the mind creates mathematics (Revised and updated edition). Oxford University Press.
(2010). Differential development of visual attention skills in school-age children. Vision Research, 50, 452–459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2009.10.010
(2007). Playing an action video game reduces gender differences in spatial cognition. Psychological Science, 18(10), 850–855. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01990.x
(2015). Do angry birds make for angry children? A meta-analysis of video game influences on children’s and adolescents’ aggression, mental health, prosocial behavior, and academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Sciences, 10(5), 646–666. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592234
(2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of adolescence, 27(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2003.10.002
(2012). Video game playing, attention problems, and impulsiveness: Evidence of bidirectional causality. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 1(1), 62–70. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026969
(2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423, 534–538. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01647
(2012). Learning, attentional control, and action video games. Current Biology, 22(6), R197–R206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.02.012
(2012). The effect of action video game experience on task-switching. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(3), 984–994. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.12.020
(2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 61–83. https://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~henrich/pdfs/WeirdPeople.pdf
(2022). Data and coding. https://osf.io/5wvkx
(2017). Integrating geospatial technologies in fifth grade curriculum: Impact on spatial ability and map-analysis skills. Journal of Geography, 116(4), 139–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221341.2017.1285339
(2008). Cognitive ability, personality, and academic performance in adolescence. Personality and individual differences, 45(7), 630–635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2008.07.006
(2011). Cognitive Abilities Test, Form 7. Riverside Publishing.
(2012). Using nonverbal tests to help identify academically talented children. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 30(1), 25–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282911428194
(2021). Measurement discrepancies between logged and self-reported digital media use: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nature of Human Behavior, 5, 1535–1547. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01117-5
(2018, September 17). 5 facts about Americans and video games. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/17/5-facts-about-americans-and-video-games/
(2007). Predicting academic achievement with cognitive ability. Intelligence, 35(1), 83–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2006.05.004
(1997). Children and videogames: Leisure activities, aggression, social integration, and school performance 1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27(13), 1175–1194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb01800.x
(2010). Effects of video-game ownership on young boys’ academic and behavioral functioning: A randomized, controlled study. Psychological Science, 21(4), 463–470. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41062231?seq=1
