Schenk et al.(2017) Games people play: How video games improve probabilistic learning
Thesis/Purpose: Schemk tests the idea that playing video games has a connection to the many cognitive benefits of imagery and problem solving. Video games may lead to better performance results due to the knowledge that comes from playing video games; due to the “hippocampus-dependent learning and memory processes.” The purpose was to investigate what kind of video games would positively enhance learning in the hippocampus due to the strong enrichment of specific video game designs.
Methods: The study began by differentiating right handed people from left handed people. Ambidextrous people were not included in the study. The mean age for male and females who were right handed and participating in the study was 24.6 years. The total number of healthy right handed video gamers was 15. The other 15 were healthy right handed non-gamers and the mean age was 27.5 years. The subjects were found through advertisements in local newspapers. They were screened using a questionnaire. Video gamers were defined as playing more than 15 hours of action based video games per week. Non-video gamers were defined as playing less than 4 hours per week. All of the participants had normal vision and no current or past illnesses. “The study was performed in accordance with ethical standards laid down in the declaration of Helsinki” and each participant had to consent by a form to be in the study. “The experiment was performed using Pre-sentation®software (Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc., Albany, CA, USA) and MRI-suitable LCD video goggles (Resonance Technology Company,Inc., Northridge, CA, USA) with a resolution of 800 × 600 pixels, registering the responses with an MRI-suitable keypad.” The participants were told that during each of the trials, only one of the four cue cards would appear and they had to learn to predict the weather based on the cards that were given to them. Depending on the weather that the participant chose, sun or rain correlated to positive or negative feedback. The cards were randomly chosen with only two possible weather outcomes. This study consisted of 2 separate sessions of 100 and over the entire duration of the experiment, there were 200 trials total. After they completed this card game task, they answered a post experiment questionnaire in order to assess the knowledge about what they were tested on.
Comparison to other material: In comparison to other materials, this case study stands out in its unique attempt and underlying success in analyzing knowledge based on playing a game. This study did not require them to actually play a video game but complete question and answer tasks based on weather predictions. The study compared gamers who were right handed and non-gamers who were right handed and did the same for left handed participants as well.
Keywords:probabilistic categorization, learning, video games, hippocampus, enrichment of environment.
On the (non)existence/impact/nature of bias: The bias that could be present in this case study is that the participants were screened but that does not necessarily mean that they did play over 15 hours a week every week and same with the non-gamers. The participants did not have to say whether or not they play video games at all and that could create some sort of data conflict.
On the nature of learning: With the possible cognitive effects that playing video games has on the hippocampus is helpful in learning, imagery, and identifying problem solving skills.
Methods: The study began by differentiating right handed people from left handed people. Ambidextrous people were not included in the study. The mean age for male and females who were right handed and participating in the study was 24.6 years. The total number of healthy right handed video gamers was 15. The other 15 were healthy right handed non-gamers and the mean age was 27.5 years. The subjects were found through advertisements in local newspapers. They were screened using a questionnaire. Video gamers were defined as playing more than 15 hours of action based video games per week. Non-video gamers were defined as playing less than 4 hours per week. All of the participants had normal vision and no current or past illnesses. “The study was performed in accordance with ethical standards laid down in the declaration of Helsinki” and each participant had to consent by a form to be in the study. “The experiment was performed using Pre-sentation®software (Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc., Albany, CA, USA) and MRI-suitable LCD video goggles (Resonance Technology Company,Inc., Northridge, CA, USA) with a resolution of 800 × 600 pixels, registering the responses with an MRI-suitable keypad.” The participants were told that during each of the trials, only one of the four cue cards would appear and they had to learn to predict the weather based on the cards that were given to them. Depending on the weather that the participant chose, sun or rain correlated to positive or negative feedback. The cards were randomly chosen with only two possible weather outcomes. This study consisted of 2 separate sessions of 100 and over the entire duration of the experiment, there were 200 trials total. After they completed this card game task, they answered a post experiment questionnaire in order to assess the knowledge about what they were tested on.
Comparison to other material: In comparison to other materials, this case study stands out in its unique attempt and underlying success in analyzing knowledge based on playing a game. This study did not require them to actually play a video game but complete question and answer tasks based on weather predictions. The study compared gamers who were right handed and non-gamers who were right handed and did the same for left handed participants as well.
Keywords:probabilistic categorization, learning, video games, hippocampus, enrichment of environment.
On the (non)existence/impact/nature of bias: The bias that could be present in this case study is that the participants were screened but that does not necessarily mean that they did play over 15 hours a week every week and same with the non-gamers. The participants did not have to say whether or not they play video games at all and that could create some sort of data conflict.
On the nature of learning: With the possible cognitive effects that playing video games has on the hippocampus is helpful in learning, imagery, and identifying problem solving skills.
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