Computer games and cognition

Question 1

What are the main aims of rehabilitation?

Answer 1

Recovery of skills which are either deficient or have been lost - doesn’t necessarily mean returning to “normal”/pre-damage, rather just functional competency potentially utilising compensatory strategies

Question 2

What is the ultimate goal of rehabilitation?

Answer 2

Skills should transfer and generalise to other contexts, not restricted to a specific training programme (need to distinguish between rehabilitated and simply well-practised at a task)

Question 3

What is ADHD and what are the 3 types?

Answer 3

A neurodevelopmental disorder
Inattentive, hyperactive and combination (most common type)

40-50% of children with autism also show symptoms of ADHD

Question 4

What are the three main diagnostic features of ADHD?

Answer 4

Hyperactivity - Fidgety, generally reluctant to be still or quiet, hyperactivity in “bursts”
Impulsivity - Can’t withhold e.g. blurts answers, impatient, interruptive, generally poor social relationships
Inattention - Misses details and disorganised, bored with task after short time, easily distracted and forgetful, generally poor school performance

Question 5

What is there some evidence of in ADHD?

Answer 5

“Hyper-focus” - find a particular task that engrosses them to the point that they ignore everything else
Video games can be an example of such a task

Question 6

How did Shalev et al suggest academic performance of children with ADHD could be improved?

Answer 6

Use of CPAT (computerised progressive attention training) programs - special and engaging program designed for combined/inattentive ADHD to improve their attention

Question 7

What did Shalev et al find in their CPAT experiments?

Answer 7

CPAT individuals’ parents rated ADHD symptoms lower after training
Some transference/generalisability to maths and English capabilities too i.e. improving attention was enough to trigger improvements in associated but untrained skills
Control groups showed no such improvement

Question 8

Why are control groups important in rehabilitation research?

Answer 8

Baseline measure unrelated to training discounts any possibility that simply engaging in an active training context is responsible for any improvements

Question 9

What are the 4 tests of attention used in CPAT programs?

Answer 9

1) Conjuctive continuous performance task - “press whenever see red square”, many distractors flash up - measuring focused attention
2) Conjunctive visual search - selective attention
3) Orienting attention - Posner’s cueing task using exogenous cues and valid trials
4) Stroop-like task (executive attention) - downwards arrow pressed more quickly in congruent trials i.e. when downwards arrow in bottom of screen

Question 10

What is working memory?

Answer 10

The 30-second memory done while processing other things - keeps something “ticking over” in your head

Question 11

How is memory training different to attentional training?

Answer 11

May improve specific abilities but doesn’t seem to be able to generalise to more complex behavioural symptoms i.e. parents don’t notice any reduction in ADHD symptoms

Question 12

What did Nouchi et al find regarding the use of brain training apps and their usefulness?

Answer 12

The benefits from brain training apps are more reflective of the CONSISTENCY of the activity
Comparing a brain age game with tetris, elderly adults played for 15 mins a day, 5 days a week for four weeks
Increased processing speed and improved cognition for both the experimental and control group - didn’t transfer to attention i.e. only highly practised, nothing beyond

Question 13

What did Anguera et al do?

Answer 13

Investigated the improvement of attentional abilities in older adults through specific training of executive function
Both passive and active control groups
Found evidence of increased cognitive control but didn’t investigate transference

Question 14

What happened in Owen et al’s study using more neurotypical populations?

Answer 14

6 week training study using over 52000 participants
3 Groups - trained in planning/reasoning, maths/visuospatial abilities/attention/memory, or active control group who weren’t trained and just answered pub quiz questions

Scores on tasks trained on showed improvement (practise effects)
No significant improvement post-training on the baseline measures across the groups - no generalisation of ability to different testing methods

Question 15

What did Owen et al conclude from their brain training study?

Answer 15

Brain training games show little more than practise effects and test too many things while conferring no benefit
Not a case of “rich get richer” - if already good, benefits are very minimal

Question 16

What are 3 of the main issues with brain training?

Answer 16

1) Too specialised - just becoming highly practised but skills not transferable
2) Transference effects short-lived and small - studies post-training measures are done shortly after training but little else is done beyond that
3) Methodological control inconsistent across studies - some have active control groups (controlling for the act of engagement in a task) and others have passive controls (simply account for practise effects and familiarity with the baseline measure tests)

Question 17

What did Green and Bavelier investigate?

Answer 17

Can games which aren’t specifically designed to improve cognitive function have an enhancing effect
Used action video games (require distribution of visual attention around a field, complex, require efficient peripheral vision, reaction times, goal-directedness etc)
When experienced gamers compared to non-gamers gamers showed higher visual attentional skill
Non-players actually improved their visual attentional skill after being trained in the game

Question 18

What did Colzato et al investigate?

Answer 18

Compared task-switching performance in experienced gamers and non-gamers using a variant of a local-global task
There was a reduced task-switch cost in gamers

Question 19

What did Kuhn et al find when investigating Super Mario?

Answer 19

When investigated changes in brain plasticity using fMRI, found increased grey matter volume in the pre-frontal cortex (task-switching, attention, goals) and hippocampus (spatial navigation) after 2 months of daily playing

Question 20

What was a flaw with Kuhn’s study?

Answer 20

No control group (fMRI is time consuming and expensive, so had to rely on a repeated-measures design)
Means we don’t know if the game itself helped or if the improvements measured were due to them doing the activity of a task

Question 21

What did Lee et al find when investigating the strategy game, Space Fortress?

Answer 21

Participants in 2 groups - one group were instructed to use a high-score strategy while the other was instructed to use a priority-management strategy
PRIORITY MANAGEMENT (specific skills) --> Less right pre-frontal cortex activation but increased performance on visuo-motor tasks than those who had general emphasis training i.e. they needed less energy to do the task equally well, suggested that the playing of the game did train the areas necessary for visuo-motor tasks

Question 22

What did Bisoglio et al find when they reviewed action video games?

Answer 22

“Action” not well defined
Reduced activity in attentional areas i.e. less energy required to do tasks well
Mild effects for attentional improvement across the games
Little effect on learning and memory
Main issue was inconsistent methodology in control groups and specific tasks used

Question 23

What are the 5 main limitations of using action games as training?

Answer 23

1) Not well defined
2) No post-training/generalisable effects for spatial memory (some effects for working memory but no control)
3) Methodology not standardised
4) Effects seen arguably just practise effects
5) Some differences may be due to experience, or may be due to self-selection bias (additional variables driving individuals to take part in the study)