title: Video game experience and its influence on visual attention parameters: an investigation using the framework of the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA).
abstract: Experts with video game experience, in contrast to non-experienced persons, are superior in multiple domains of visual attention. However, it is an open question which basic aspects of attention underlie this superiority. We approached this question using the framework of Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) with tools that allowed us to assess various parameters that are related to different visual attention aspects (e.g., perception threshold, processing speed, visual short-term memory storage capacity, top-down control, spatial distribution of attention) and that are measurable on the same experimental basis. In Experiment 1, we found advantages of video game experts in perception threshold and visual processing speed; the latter being restricted to the lower positions of the used computer display. The observed advantages were not significantly moderated by general person-related characteristics such as personality traits, sensation seeking, intelligence, social anxiety, or health status. Experiment 2 tested a potential causal link between the expert advantages and video game practice with an intervention protocol. It found no effects of action video gaming on perception threshold, visual short-term memory storage capacity, iconic memory storage, top-down control, and spatial distribution of attention after 15 days of training. However, observations of a selected improvement of processing speed at the lower positions of the computer screen after video game training and of retest effects are suggestive for limited possibilities to improve basic aspects of visual attention (TVA) with practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany. Electronic address: torsten.schubert@hu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany; Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Germany.
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Finke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Redel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany; Department of Neurology, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kluckow
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany; Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College London, UK.
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany.
authors.forename: Tilo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Strobach
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D018910:Video Games; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Action video gaming; Practice effects; Processing speed; Theory of visual attention