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Real-Time Strategy Game Training: Emergence of a Cognitive Flexibility Trait

Glass, BD; Maddox, WT; Love, BC; (2013) Real-Time Strategy Game Training: Emergence of a Cognitive Flexibility Trait. PLOS ONE , 8 (8) , Article e70350. 10.1371/journal.pone.0070350. Green open access

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Abstract

Training in action video games can increase the speed of perceptual processing. However, it is unknown whether video-game training can lead to broad-based changes in higher-level competencies such as cognitive flexibility, a core and neurally distributed component of cognition. To determine whether video gaming can enhance cognitive flexibility and, if so, why these changes occur, the current study compares two versions of a real-time strategy (RTS) game. Using a meta-analytic Bayes factor approach, we found that the gaming condition that emphasized maintenance and rapid switching between multiple information and action sources led to a large increase in cognitive flexibility as measured by a wide array of non-video gaming tasks. Theoretically, the results suggest that the distributed brain networks supporting cognitive flexibility can be tuned by engrossing video game experience that stresses maintenance and rapid manipulation of multiple information sources. Practically, these results suggest avenues for increasing cognitive function.

Type: Article
Title: Real-Time Strategy Game Training: Emergence of a Cognitive Flexibility Trait
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070350
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0070350
Language: English
Additional information: © 2013 Glass et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. PubMed ID: 23950921
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Experimental Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1404203
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