Video Games as a Tool to Train Cognitive Skills

摘要

The general goals and aims of this project were to evaluate the use of computer training software, and in particular action video games, as a tool to train and enhance perceptual skills, visual attention, and working memory capacities. The author's previous work has shown that playing just 10 hours of an action video game leads to marked improvement in the number of objects that can be attended, the amount of visual information that can be processed in a fast stream of visual information, and the ability to search and locate targets in a cluttered visual scene (Shawn C. Green and Daphne Bavelier, Nature 2003). This report describes studies that build on this work. The studies are as follows: (1) Evaluation of the Interactive Metronome as a Training Tool for Visual Attention and Working Memory evaluated Interactive Metronome (IM) training as a way to enhance visual attention and working memory, and compared IM training to four video games that are representative of four popular genres (i.e., America's Army, Harry Potter, Tetris, card games) (Julie Cohen, Shawn C. Green, and Daphne Bavelier); (2) Evaluation of the Impact of Action Game Training on the Spatial Resolution of Vision (Shawn C. Green); (3) Evaluation of the Impact of Action Games on the Temporal Dynamics of Lateral Interactions in the Visual System characterizes the changes induced by action game training on the temporal properties of visual processing (Renji Li, Dr. U. Polat, and Dr. W. Makous); (4) Computational Models of Perceptual Learning develops a quantitative model of a neural architecture that exhibits learning with the same characteristics as those described in behavioral studies (Weiji Ma and Dr. A. Pouget); and (5) Neural Bases of Perceptual Learning characterizes the neural correlates of the learning induced by video game training (Rebecca Achtman). An annotated bibliography of six manuscripts prepared during the grant period is included.