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Do gamers think faster?

The results showed that gamers who completed a video-games questionnaire before performing the tasks had faster reaction times (RTs) in the Simon task compared with gamers who answered the questionnaire after performing the tasks.

nature.com - Reaction time and working memory in gamers and non-gamers - Nature

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Participants

We used G*Power42 to perform a priori power analysis for our two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) [Group (gamers/non-gamers) × Questionnaire Delivery Time (before/after the performance of tasks comparing)]. To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have directly examined the effects of suggestion or response expectancy on simple cognitive/motor tasks in gamers and non-gamers. However, there are studies from the motor learning literature showing that enhanced expectancies of success which are caused by providing easy criteria of success (e.g.,21,43) or visual illusions that lead to a perceived larger target44 can lead to improved performance and learning, with effect sizes varying from moderate (Cohen's d = 0.54;44 to large (Cohen’s d = 0.821, calculated from the reported $\eta_{p}^{2}$ = 0.14). Because these studies had a small sample size (N between 36 and 45), effect sizes could have been overestimated (the Winner’s curse45. Therefore, in our study we took a more cautious approach and selected a moderate effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.5/Cohen’s f = 0.25) for our power analysis. We entered this effect size into the power analysis with the following parameters: alpha (two-sided) = 0.05, power = 0.80, allocation ratio 1:1. The results of the power analysis suggested that 128 participants are required to detect differences between groups or to find an interaction with 80% power. Therefore, our goal was to recruit 128 participants between the ages of 18–35 years and to randomize them to four groups of 32 participants each: (a) gamers who answered a video-games questionnaire at the beginning of the study (G-B), (2) gamers who answered a video-games questionnaire at the end of the study (G-E), (c) non-gamers who answered a video-games questionnaire at the beginning of the study (NG-B), and (d) non-gamers who answered a video-games questionnaire at the end of the study (NG-E). We recruited participants through Prolific (www.prolific.co)—an online participant database platform that allows the researcher to use various exclusion and inclusion criteria (based on information individuals provide in their profile) and allows the participants to participate in an online study from their own computer. In such an online study, we cannot know if the participants who begin the study will complete it. Therefore, we recruited 160 participants in two projects. In one project we recruited 80 participants who, according to their information on Prolific, play video games more than 13 h per week (a more stringent criterion than our pre-registered requirement of > 10 h per week), and in another project we recruited 80 participants who play video games less than three hours per week. We were aware of the possibility that the information individuals entered when they created an account on Prolific may not be current, and indeed, out of 159 participants, only 110 matched our pre-registered criteria: 70 participants who reported playing over 10 h per week and 40 participants who reported playing fewer than three hours per week. Therefore, we added 28 participants in another project in order to increase the number of non-gamers. This addition led to a total of 187 participants who completed the study. Out of those, 131 participants (27 females, one participant who did not report gender, mean age = 23.51 ± 4.33 years) matched our gamers and non-gamers inclusion criteria, and they are analyzed in the current study: 34 participants in the G-B group (one female, one unreported gender), 39 participants in the G-E group (seven females), 28 participants in the NG-B group (10 females), and 30 participants in the NG-E group (nine females). It is important to note that the participants were not recruited based on information entered when signing up to our specific study. The participants on Prolific.ac answer general questions regarding demographics, hobbies, health, etc. when joining the database. Based on these data, we were able to filter participants who filled in specific responses. However, the participants did not know why they received an invitation to participate. This allowed us to covertly recruit participants for the study, without them knowing that the study had anything to do with gaming. Randomization to groups was performed automatically by the web-based platform. Importantly, the prospective participants in Prolific did not know that they were recruited based on their video game playing habits. The participants also reported being fluent in English and were paid 2.5 British Pounds for their participation. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of The Academic College at Wingate (approval # 303), and all participants filled out an electronic informed consent form on the study’s website prior to their participation. In addition, all methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.

Tasks

Participants were asked to perform the following four tasks.

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Choice-RT task

In this task, the participants pressed as quickly as possible the “j” key if the word “right” appeared on the right side and the “f” key if the word “left” appeared on the left side of a centralized cross on the computer screen. The words “right” or “left” were presented for 900 ms, followed by 600 ms during which only the centralized cross was displayed46,47.

Simon task

This task is a variation of the choice-RT task. The words “right” or “left” could be displayed on either the right or the left side of the cross. The participants were required to press the “j” key if they saw the word “right” (even if it appeared on the left side of the cross) and to press the “f” key if they saw the word “left” (even if it appeared on the right side of the cross)48,49. Similar to the choice-RT task, the words “right” or “left” were presented for 900 ms, followed by 600 ms during which only the centralized cross was displayed.

Alternate task-switching task

In this task, a square or a rectangle in either a blue or green color appeared at the top or at the bottom of the screen. If a shape appeared at the top of the screen, the participants were asked to press the “f” key if the shape was blue and the “j” key if the shape was green (regardless of whether it was a square or a rectangle). However, if the shape appeared at the bottom of the screen, participants were asked to press the “f” key if the shape was a square and the “j” key if the shape was a rectangle (regardless of the color). In this task, each stimulus was presented for an unlimited duration until a key press was recorded. The above-mentioned three RT tasks are presented in Fig. 4. Figure 4 An example of the choice-RT task (a), the Simon task (b), and the alternate task-switching task (c, d) (figure created using Microsoft PowerPoint). Full size image

Digit-span memory task

In this task, participants were asked to remember the digits that were presented to them on the screen. The first number included three digits and each consecutive number had one additional digit up to 11 digits. Digits were shown one at a time for a period of one second each. Digits were randomly selected using a random number sampling of the digits 0 to 9 without replacement up to 10 digits. For the 11-digit number an additional (duplicate) digit was randomly added to the 10 digits. All digit randomizations were conducted in R50. If the random sample included a series of ascending or descending numbers (e.g., 1, 3, 5; 7, 5, 3; 3, 6, 9; 8, 6, 4) the series was deleted, and another random sample was generated. A similar approach to the presentation of this task has been used in previous experiments (e.g.,51).

Procedure

This study was conducted online using a web-based platform (www.gorilla.sc52). This platform is integrated with the participants' database (www.prolific.co) and the participants perform the experiment on their own computer. Web-based studies have been shown to provide accurate measures of RT that are similar to those attained in lab-based studies (e.g.,53,54). After the completion of an electronic informed consent form that was presented at the beginning of the study, participants in the G-B and NG-B groups answered a questionnaire regarding their video game playing habits. Specifically, they were asked how many hours they spend playing video games per week in general, and how many hours they specifically spend playing first-person shooter games, strategy games, or role-playing games. The participants chose one answer from a list (I do not play video games, 1–3 h, 4–6 h, 7–9 h, 10–12 h, 13 h per week or more). In addition, they were asked how many years they have been playing video games (< 1 year, 1–2 years, 3–4 years, 5–6 years, > 7 years). Participants in the G-E and NG-E groups answered a neutral questionnaire with the same number of questions (e.g., how many hours per week do you watch TV, how long is your commute to work, how many books have you read in the last year). After answering the questionnaires, the participants were familiarized with the four tasks in a counterbalanced order. Each participant performed one block of eight trials of the three RT-based tasks (i.e., choice-RT, Simon task, alternate task-switching task) and one block of four trials of the digit span task that consisted of remembering one digit, two digits, three digits, and four digits. After completing the familiarization stage, the main part of the study began. For the three RT-based tasks, the participants performed two blocks of 24 trials each. For the digit span task, they performed two blocks starting with three digits and ending with 11 digits (in increments of one). The four tasks were presented in a counterbalanced order between participants. After completing the four tasks, participants in the G-E and NG-E answered the same video game playing habits questionnaire. In addition, all four groups answered the following two questions: (a) “Do you think there is a connection between playing video games and the ability to perform cognitive-motor tasks, such as the ones you just performed?” (answers on a scale of 1—not at all, to 10—very much so), and (b) “Are you familiar with media reports or research regarding the benefits of playing video games in relation to the ability to perform cognitive-motor tasks?” (yes or no). These two questions were presented to all groups at the end of the study, because if they were presented at the beginning of the study they could have explicitly exposed the study’s purpose18. In all of the questions presented throughout the experiment, the option to answer, “Prefer not to say” was included as well.

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Data exclusion

During pre-registration, we decided that for the choice-RT and the Simon task, RT values of over 1000 ms would be removed because they represented RTs that were longer than the presentation of the stimulus (900 ms). However, this did not occur. For the alternate task-switching task, based on our pre-registration, RT values of over 1500 ms were removed. This resulted in a removal of 17 blocks (out of a total of 262 blocks, 6.5% of the blocks). If there were more than 50% incorrect key presses in a block of 24 trials, the block was deleted, as this most likely shows that the participant did not understand the task. This happened only three times in the Simon task (1.1% of blocks), and eight times in the alternate task-switching task (3.1% of the blocks). During pre-registration, we also decided that if there were over 50% incorrect key presses in both blocks of two of the three RT-based tasks for one participant, this participant would be removed from the study. However, this did not occur with any of the participants.

Data analyses

For each of the three RT-based tasks we measured RTs (ms) and the number of correct responses. These were averaged for the two blocks of trials in each task. For the digit span task, we measured the maximum number of digits remembered before the first error and the total number of correct answers. These two variables were averaged for the two blocks of trials. Based on skewness and kurtosis values, RTs were mostly normally distributed and were analyzed using a 2-way ANOVA [Group (gamers/non-gamers) × Timing of questionnaire (before/after tasks)]. The number of correct key presses in the three RT-based tasks was not normally distributed, and because there is no non-parametric equivalent for a two-way ANOVA we used the Mann–Whitney test to examine, for the group of gamers and non-gamers separately, the differences in correct responses between the condition in which the video-games questionnaire was completed before performing the task and the condition in which it was presented after performing the tasks. The variables measured in the digit span memory task were normally distributed and were analyzed using two-way ANOVAs like those used for the analyses of RTs. In our pre-registration, we wanted to conduct the statistical analyses separately for each type of game played (e.g., general, first-person shooter, strategy games, role-playing). However, the separate sample sizes were too small, and therefore these analyses could not be performed. We also performed a stepwise multiple regression to examine whether video game playing habits and conceptions of the effects of video games on performance could predict RTs and correct responses in the performed tasks. For this analysis only, we used the data of all 187 participants who completed the study. Because stepwise regression can lead to overfitting and over-estimation of models, we also conducted LASSO (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator) regression—an accepted alternative to stepwise regression that deals with such problems55. To better understand the non-significant effects or interactions, we used Bayesian statistics in our exploratory analyses. Statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS version 25 (SPSS Statistics, IBM, USA), R50 for LASSO regression, and JASP56 for all Bayesian analyses. Bonferroni post-hoc analyses and 95% confidence intervals were used for post-hoc testing when appropriate, and alpha was set at 0.05.

nature.com - Reaction time and working memory in gamers and non-gamers - Nature

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