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Action video gamers showed better perceptual template performance

Players who played action video games were more likely to show enhanced perceptual templates compared with those who played nonaction video games, according to new research.

Researchers conducted three experiments in which action video game players and nonaction video gamers were presented with orientation identification tasks.

In the first experiment, 10 expert action video gamers were overtly recruited and compared with 10 sex- and age-matched nonaction video game players by results of a Gabor orientation task. Performance by action players was “generally superior” to nonaction video players.

In the second experiment, 26 nonaction video game players were recruited and given a series of tests, including cognition tests and Gabor orientation identification before and after action video game training sessions. Participants received training for 50 hours over 9 weeks, including 5 to 6 hours per week. Tests administered after training showed improvements in performance, including those in a subset of the group who were retested 3 months to 1 year later.

In the third experiment, 10 action video gamers were compared with 10 nonaction video game players in orientation identification Gabor tasks at a different reference angle than the prior tests. Action video gamers improved more rapidly with those tasks.

“The ability to more quickly learn task-relevant statistics allows action gamers to better infer the proper generative model for the task at hand, which in turn results in improved inference about task-relevant variables and enhanced perceptual sensitivity and/or reliability,” the researchers wrote. “Such a general learning mechanism, unlike the usually task-specific improvements following perceptual learning, can account for the wide range of behavioral benefits noted after action game play.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.