Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Sep 13:2:226.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00226. eCollection 2011.

Do action video games improve perception and cognition?

Walter R Boot  1 , Daniel P Blakely, Daniel J Simons
Affiliations

Do action video games improve perception and cognition?

Walter R Boot et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Frequent action video game players often outperform non-gamers on measures of perception and cognition, and some studies find that video game practice enhances those abilities. The possibility that video game training transfers broadly to other aspects of cognition is exciting because training on one task rarely improves performance on others. At first glance, the cumulative evidence suggests a strong relationship between gaming experience and other cognitive abilities, but methodological shortcomings call that conclusion into question. We discuss these pitfalls, identify how existing studies succeed or fail in overcoming them, and provide guidelines for more definitive tests of the effects of gaming on cognition.

Keywords: cognitive training; perceptual learning; transfer of training; video games.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ackerman P. L., Kanfer R., Calderwood C. (2010). Use it or lose it? Wii brain exercise practice and reading for domain knowledge. Psychol. Aging 25, 753–76610.1037/a0019277 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anderson A. F., Bavelier D., Green C. S. (2010). “Speed-accuracy tradeoffs in cognitive tasks in action game players,” in Presented at the 10th Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL
    1. Andrews G., Murphy K. (2006). “Does video-game playing improve executive function?” in Frontiers in Cognitive Sciences, ed. Vanchevsky M. A. (New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.), 145–161
    1. Ball K., Berch D. B., Helmers K. F., Jobe J. B., Leveck M. D., Marsiske M., Morris J. N., Rebok G. W., Smith D. M., Tennstedt S. L., Unverzagt F. W., Willis S. L., Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly Study Group (2002). Effects of cognitive training interventions with older adults: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 288, 2271–2281 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Basak C., Boot W. R., Voss M., Kramer A. F. (2008). Can training in a real-time strategy videogame attenuate cognitive decline in older adults? Psychol. Aging 23, 765–77710.1037/a0013494 - DOI - PMC - PubMed