Influence of game features on attention in adults

Introduction

The incorporation of game features into cognitive tasks can inform us about the influence of reward and motivation on attention. Continuous performance tasks (CPTs), designed to assess attention abilities, are examples of cognitive tasks that have been targeted for the addition of game features. However, previous results have been mixed regarding how game elements affect attention abilities and task performance.

Methods

Here, we studied if there were factors that predict which individuals exhibit changes in attention from game features added to a CPT. Participants (N = 94, aged 21-71) played a traditional CPT and a game CPT with identical mechanics, but featured engaging game elements (aesthetics, storyline, competition, feedback, and reward).

Results

We first found corroborating evidence that game features have mixed effects on attention performance: most attention metrics of interest exhibited no overall difference between the traditional and game CPT, while game elements reduced performance for a few metrics. Importantly, we also found that specific behavioral and demographic profiles predicted individual differences in performance on the game CPT compared to the traditional CPT. Those with more attention difficulties (ADHD symptoms), more reward responsiveness, and younger adults performed better on the game CPT while, conversely, those with fewer ADHD symptoms, less reward responsiveness, and older adults performed better on the traditional CPT.

Discussion

These findings provide insights into how game features can influence attention in different individuals and have important implications for the use of game elements in cognitive tasks and training interventions.

Long-term maintenance of multitasking abilities following video game training in older adults

The use of cognitive interventions to remediate deficient cognitive functions, or to enhance or preserve intact cognitive abilities, has been explored for some time, especially in older adults. However, few studies have investigated the long-term persistence of any positive benefits, with none examining whether changes in functional brain activity persist several years later. Here, we assessed whether enhanced cognitive abilities and potential underlying neural changes attained via the use of a custom-made video game (NeuroRacer) played by older adults (60-85 years old) continued to be elevated beyond control participants 6 years later. The NeuroRacer group continued to show reduced multitasking costs beyond control participants, with a neural signature of cognitive control, midline frontal theta power, also continuing to show heightened activity. However, previously evidenced performance benefits that had extended to untrained cognitive control abilities (i.e., enhanced sustained attention and working memory) did not persist, highlighting sustainability limitations. These findings continue to demonstrate the robust plasticity of the prefrontal cognitive control system in the aging brain, a potential neural mechanism underlying enhanced performance over time, and the possible long-term impact that digital therapeutics can have.

Disentangling expectation from selective attention during perceptual decision making

A large body of work has investigated the effects of attention and expectation on early sensory processing to support decision making. In a recent paper published in The Journal of Neuroscience, Rungratsameetaweemana et al. (Rungratsameetaweemana N, Itthipuripat S, Salazar A, Serences JT. J Neurosci 38: 5632-5648, 2018) found that expectations driven by implicitly learned task regularities do not modulate neural markers of early visual processing. Here, we discuss these findings and propose several lines of follow-up analyses and experiments that could expand on these findings in the broader perceptual decision making literature.