Cognitive development: gaming your way out of dyslexia?

Bavelier D, Green CS, Seidenberg MS.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Meliora Hall, Box 270268, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA. daphne.bavelier@unige.ch

Abstract

A recent study found that dyslexic children trained on action video games show significant improvements on basic measures of both attention and reading ability, suggesting future directions for the study of dyslexia intervention paradigms.

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comment on

Annu Rev Neurosci. 2012;35:391-416. doi: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-060909-152832.

Brain plasticity through the life span: learning to learn and action video games.

Bavelier D, Green CS, Pouget A, Schrater P.

Source

Department of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. daphne@bcs.rochester.edu

Abstract

The ability of the human brain to learn is exceptional. Yet, learning is typically quite specific to the exact task used during training, a limiting factor for practical applications such as rehabilitation, workforce training, or education. The possibility of identifying training regimens that have a broad enough impact to transfer to a variety of tasks is thus highly appealing. This work reviews how complex training environments such as action video game play may actually foster brain plasticity and learning. This enhanced learning capacity, termed learning to learn, is considered in light of its computational requirements and putative neural mechanisms.

PMID:

 

22715883

 

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Curr Biol. 2012 Mar 20;22(6):R197-206. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.02.012.

Learning, attentional control, and action video games.

Green CS, Bavelier D.

Source

Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA. csgreen2@wisc.edu

Abstract

While humans have an incredible capacity to acquire new skills and alter their behavior as a result of experience, enhancements in performance are typically narrowly restricted to the parameters of the training environment, with little evidence of generalization to different, even seemingly highly related, tasks. Such specificity is a major obstacle for the development of many real-world training or rehabilitation paradigms, which necessarily seek to promote more general learning. In contrast to these typical findings, research over the past decade has shown that training on 'action video games' produces learning that transfers well beyond the training task. This has led to substantial interest among those interested in rehabilitation, for instance, after stroke or to treat amblyopia, or training for various precision-demanding jobs, for instance, endoscopic surgery or piloting unmanned aerial drones. Although the predominant focus of the field has been on outlining the breadth of possible action-game-related enhancements, recent work has concentrated on uncovering the mechanisms that underlie these changes, an important first step towards the goal of designing and using video games for more definite purposes. Game playing may not convey an immediate advantage on new tasks (increased performance from the very first trial), but rather the true effect of action video game playing may be to enhance the ability to learn new tasks. Such a mechanism may serve as a signature of training regimens that are likely to produce transfer of learning.

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comput Human Behav. 2012 May;28(3):984-994.

The effect of action video game experience on task-switching.

Green CS, Sugarman MA, Medford K, Klobusicky E, Daphne Bavelier.

Source

Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53717.

Abstract

There is now a substantial body of work demonstrating that action video game experience results in enhancements in a wide variety of perceptual skills. More recently, several groups have also demonstrated improvements in abilities that are more cognitive in nature, in particular, the ability to efficiently switch between tasks. In a series of four experiments, we add to this body of work, demonstrating that the action video game player advantage is not exclusively due to an ability to map manual responses onto arbitrary buttons, but rather generalizes to vocal responses, is not restricted to tasks that are perceptual in nature (e.g. respond to a physical dimension of the stimulus such as its color), but generalizes to more cognitive tasks (e.g. is a number odd or even), and is present whether the switch requires a goal-switch or only a motor switch. Finally, a training study establishes that the relationship between the reduction in switch cost and action game playing is causal.

Neuron. 2010 Sep 9;67(5):692-701. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.08.035.

Children, wired: for better and for worse.file:///Users/cecilelapert/Desktop/Capture%20d’écran%202013-11-21%20à%2006.35.50.png

Bavelier D, Green CS, Dye MW.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA. daphne@bcs.rochester.edu

Abstract

Children encounter technology constantly at home and in school. Television, DVDs, video games, the Internet, and smart phones all play a formative role in children's development. The term "technology" subsumes a large variety of somewhat independent items, and it is no surprise that current research indicates causes for both optimism and concern depending upon the content of the technology, the context in which the technology immerses the user, and the user's developmental stage. Furthermore, because the field is still in its infancy, results can be surprising: video games designed to be reasonably mindless result in widespread enhancements of various abilities, acting, we will argue, as exemplary learning tools. Counterintuitive outcomes like these, besides being practically relevant, challenge and eventually lead to refinement of theories concerning fundamental principles of brain plasticity and learning.

2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2009;18(6):321-326.

Increasing Speed of Processing With Action Video Games.

Dye MW, Green CS, Bavelier D.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester.

Abstract

In many everyday situations, speed is of the essence. However, fast decisions typically mean more mistakes. To this day, it remains unknown whether reaction times can be reduced with appropriate training, within one individual, across a range of tasks, and without compromising accuracy. Here we review evidence that the very act of playing action video games significantly reduces reaction times without sacrificing accuracy. Critically, this increase in speed is observed across various tasks beyond game situations. Video gaming may therefore provide an efficient training regimen to induce a general speeding of perceptual reaction times without decreases in accuracy of performance.

Cognition. 2006 Aug;101(1):217-45. Epub 2005 Dec 15.

Enumeration versus multiple object tracking: the case of action video game players.

Green CS, Bavelier D.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, RC 270268, Meliora Hall, Rochester, NY 14627-0268, USA. csgreen@bcs.rochester.edu

Abstract

Here, we demonstrate that action video game play enhances subjects' ability in two tasks thought to indicate the number of items that can be apprehended. Using an enumeration task, in which participants have to determine the number of quickly flashed squares, accuracy measures showed a near ceiling performance for low numerosities and a sharp drop in performance once a critical number of squares was reached. Importantly, this critical number was higher by about two items in video game players (VGPs) than in non-video game players (NVGPs). A following control study indicated that this improvement was not due to an enhanced ability to instantly apprehend the numerosity of the display, a process known as subitizing, but rather due to an enhancement in the slower more serial process of counting. To confirm that video game play facilitates the processing of multiple objects at once, we compared VGPs and NVGPs on the multiple object tracking task (MOT), which requires the allocation of attention to several items over time. VGPs were able to successfully track approximately two more items than NVGPs. Furthermore, NVGPs trained on an action video game established the causal effect of game playing in the enhanced performance on the two tasks. Together, these studies confirm the view that playing action video games enhances the number of objects that can be apprehended and suggest that this enhancement is mediated by changes in visual short-term memory skills.

Nature. 2003 May 29;423(6939):534-7.

Action video game modifies visual selective attention.

Green CS, Bavelier D.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.

Abstract

As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in today's society, it is worth considering its potential consequences on perceptual and motor skills. It is well known that exposing an organism to an altered visual environment often results in modification of the visual system of the organism. The field of perceptual learning provides many examples of training-induced increases in performance. But perceptual learning, when it occurs, tends to be specific to the trained task; that is, generalization to new tasks is rarely found. Here we show, by contrast, that action-video-game playing is capable of altering a range of visual skills. Four experiments establish changes in different aspects of visual attention in habitual video-game players as compared with non-video-game players. In a fifth experiment, non-players trained on an action video game show marked improvement from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of playing in this effect.