Exploring the Effect of Video Game Playing on Static and Dynamic Spatial Cognition Skills

This dissertation explores the relationship between video game playing and performance on static and dynamic spatial tasks focusing on Tetris and first person shooter games (FPS) like Unreal Tournament 2004. An extensive meta-analysis of previous game research found that Tetris had the strongest effect for mental rotation of 2D Tetris-like shapes (d = 0.82) and while FPS games were most effective on visual attention tasks (d = 1.13). Experiment 1 explores the relationship between 4 spatial skills and game performance in non-video game players. The study found significant correlations between Unreal Tournament 2004 performance and performance on all of the spatial tasks, while Tetris performance was only correlated with two of the tasks measures. Experiment 2 examined performance differences between action video game players (VGPs) and non-video game players (NVGPs) on the 4 spatial tasks as well as exploring processing differences on a 2D mental rotation task during an electroencephalography (EEG) session. VGPs only significantly outperformed NVGPs on the interception task (p < .001, d =.92), which has task demands very similar to the game mechanics for an FPS game. For the 2D rotation task differences, the ERP waveforms showed a flatter profile for the 150 degree angle trials for VGPs compared to the NVGPs who showed the typical negative modulation around the P300 suggesting that VGPs might have used an alternative strategy for larger rotation angles. Experiment 3 examined the cognitive consequences of 10 hours of training with either Unreal Tournament 2004 (UT) or Tetris. Training with UT was not effective at improving performance on any of the spatial cognition tasks above the retest gains experienced by the control condition. The Tetris training group showed significant improvement on both response times for mental rotation ( p = .05) and interception task performance (p = .05). Comparisons of the ERP recordings on the 2D rotation task between control and UT trainees showed no significant differences. Therefore, training with an FPS game did not affect how the spatial information was processed. Overall, the results from the meta-analysis and Experiments 2 and 3 argue for specific transfer theory when training spatial skills.