title: Action video games do not improve the speed of information processing in simple perceptual tasks.
abstract: Previous research suggests that playing action video games improves performance on sensory, perceptual, and attentional tasks. For instance, Green, Pouget, and Bavelier (2010) used the diffusion model to decompose data from a motion detection task and estimate the contribution of several underlying psychological processes. Their analysis indicated that playing action video games leads to faster information processing, reduced response caution, and no difference in motor responding. Because perceptual learning is generally thought to be highly context-specific, this transfer from gaming is surprising and warrants corroborative evidence from a large-scale training study. We conducted 2 experiments in which participants practiced either an action video game or a cognitive game in 5 separate, supervised sessions. Prior to each session and following the last session, participants performed a perceptual discrimination task. In the second experiment, we included a third condition in which no video games were played at all. Behavioral data and diffusion model parameters showed similar practice effects for the action gamers, the cognitive gamers, and the nongamers and suggest that, in contrast to earlier reports, playing action video games does not improve the speed of information processing in simple perceptual tasks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van Ravenzwaaij
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam.
authors.forename: Wouter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Boekel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam.
authors.forename: Birte U
authors.initials: BU
authors.lastname: Forstmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ohio State University.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ratcliff
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam.
authors.forename: Eric-Jan
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Wagenmakers
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult