Effects of Video Games on Short Term Memory

¶ … video games have on short-term memory. Researchers normally study action games, but quest/puzzle games were also included in this study, to allow for direct comparison of different game types along with a control group. In this research, we looked at three different types of short-term memory, the visual-spatial dimension, verbal and numerical. We examined some correlations between improved memory and video game usage. However, not all of the null hypotheses were confirmed in this study, meaning that there is room for future study.

In particular, it has been established that quest/puzzle games are correlated with higher visual-spatial and verbal short-term memory, but it has not been determined if differences between baseline abilities amount the study participants might have influenced this result. This, therefore, would be one avenue for future study that has been opened up.

This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge with respect to the influence that different types of video games have on the brain, on cognition and on working memory, and helps to open up new avenues of exploration. Introduction Cognitive researchers have for many years investigated the link between video games and short-term memory. In particular, they have looked at using video games to enhance short-term memory. This research counterbalances findings that research has a negative effect on academic performance.

The underlying theory is that time spent playing video games might be a substitute for time spent studying, which would naturally be detrimental to academic performance, but this is not related to the ability of video games to enhance cognitive skills (Anand, 2007; Larson, et al., no date). Early studies about the effects of video games on the mind focused largely on the hypothesis that violent video games will increase aggressive behavior, building on studies that looked at violent television and movies in the same light.

Such studies found positive associations between violent video games and aggressiveness (Anderson & Bushman, 2001, which led researchers down the path of exploring the impact of video games on cognitive function in general. Studies of video game-related aggression focused on the "learning, activation and application of aggression-related knowledge structures stored in memory," and these are subsequently influenced by other situational input variables (Anderson & Bushman, 2001).

In essence, video games rewire the brain in certain ways, and the structures and patterns that develop from the focus on violent video games leads to a greater tendency towards violent behavior. The most successful strike the right balance between providing enough challenge to stimulate, but not so much as to discourage (Gee, 2003). One of the issues in this line of study was to determine if aggressive behavior in people who play violent video games was the result of aggressive affect, or whether it was the result of cognition.

Carnagey and Anderson (2005) found that both were influenced by the video games. What this meant for the study of video games and memory is that video games do have at least some influence over cognition. Researchers have been able to build on this idea since this earlier research made this discovery. Studies about the influence of video games on short-term memory have been conducted. Larson et al. (n.d.) found that video games had a negative influence on short-term memory, in particular when compared to reading.

Video games do not necessary foster short-term memory gain, as the action tends to pass by the screen quickly, and there is little benefit to maintaining high rates of short-term recall. However, other studies have shown that video games can have a positive influence over visual and auditory recall, likely because those are two main features of video games (Larson et al., n.d.). Blacker and Curby (2013) have found that visual short-term memory is enhanced by playing video games, for example.

In their study, they noted that "action video game playing can bolster visual cognitive abilities in a domain-general manner, including abilities related to visual attention and the speed of processing." Such findings indicate that there are areas of strength with respect to the way that video games affect the brain, and that the visual realm appears to be one of them.

This seems to confirm Larson's study, that showed while immediate visual memory was impaired by the video games, a 24-hour delayed recall found that video gamers had better visual memories. Meta-analysis has showed that while the positive effects of video-game playing on short-term memory were confirmed, the effects were generally only mild (Tavarez, 2012). Consensus on the matter, however, has not been achieved. In another study, video game playing was not found to be linked to improved visual sensory memory, only to visual sensitivity (Applebaum et al., 2013).

This study was conducted to seek out an explanation for the multitude of studies that showed video gamers have improved response times, ability to "simultaneously apprehend and track a greater number of items," and have improve spatial abilities, as well as better task-switching skills (Applebaum, et al., 2013). Further studies have sought to apply this knowledge. For example, Amladi et al. (no date) investigated the use of video games to enhance short-term memory in students with working memory deficits.

This research is based on the principle that the ability to remember more things is improved in people who play action video games. Using action video games as a means of cognitive stimulation in people with working memory deficits was also based on evidence that working memory training can have significant effects, though these effects seem to be stronger when people are younger. It is also worth considering that whatever influence action video games might have, there are other techniques by which to enhance cognition.

There are software programs, not video games, that have been designed specifically to stimulate those areas of the brain responsible for the short-term memory. There is a thought that such programs are likely to be more effective because they target these areas specifically. That said, the visual memory element of video games may still be stronger (Vitelli, 2014).

The amount of attention paid to visuals in game design, combined with the importance of visual clues in many games, especially action games, quite likely stimulates the brain at a higher level than routine exercises. The aggression stimulation may heighten the memory effects, and it may also be that video games are typically played for much longer periods of time than memory stimulation exercises, because they have been designed with entertainment in mind.

These different variables have not been tested yet, when examining the differences between video games and other techniques to enhance short-term and visual memory cognition. Studies with MRIs have examined the effect on cognition in more detail. Hummer et al.

(2010) noted evidence that "playing a violent video game can modulate prefrontal activity during cognitive inhibition." What this means is that even though people who play action video games can respond more quickly to stimuli, when placed in a situation where the first piece of information is followed by a second, contradictory piece of information, they had trouble changing their original reaction.

The example utilized in the study was a "go/no go," where the initial "go" decision was contradicted, and the video game sample population had a longer response time after making the go decision. This hints that the way games affect the brain makes them faster to react initially, but processing information at a higher level there is a delayed reaction. This finding could have an influence over studies that focus more on quick reactions to visual stimuli, such identifying a picture.

This topic is important for a couple of reasons. One reason is that video games are so prevalent in our society. The original studies on violent video games came about as the result of concern about the effect that video games were having on children, but built on a grander set of studies about media influence on behavior and later on cognition. Understanding the ways that video games affect the brain is important, and it is further important to understand how different types of games affect cognition.

The second reason that this is important is that there is growing body of research investigating the application of this knowledge to improving cognition in people with working memory deficits. It is important to understand if video games work, and then why or how they work, so that any successes can be replicated. Factors driving such successes could potentially be isolated, to produce media that is specifically aimed at improving memory deficiency, and that such programs would be more effective than whatever is on the market today.

These studies point to the need for further study on the issue of video games and short-term memory. The working hypothesis for my study will build on the idea that short-term visual memory is improved. The hypothesis that I will examine is that action video games can enhance short-term visual memory but do not enhance short-term verbal and numeric memory.

The basic principle at work is that video games affect the brain in specific ways, and that performance on tasks involving those particular parts of the brain will be improved, while performance of tasks that do not involve those parts of the brain will be unaffected at best. It is believed that the null hypotheses will be demonstrated in this study. Methodology Participants The study will examine three groups of students. The first group consists of those who play action video games.

The second will be those who play other types of video games, such as quest games or puzzle games. The third will be those who do not play video games. These three groups will be tested on their visual memory, numeric memory and verbal memory. The participants will all be students drawn from the available nearby population. They will all be 18 years or older, and be subject to informed consent.

Each participant will be asked to categorize their own video game usage, so that they can be placed into the three categories. Basic demographic information, but not names, will be gathered about the students so that potentially it can be explored whether or not there are differences relating to race, gender or ethnicity in terms of the responses. It is expected that there will be minimal age differences between the students, such that it will not be possible to separate out different groups of subjects based on that particular variable.

Procedures The students will be asked to perform a variety of memory tasks, relating visual-spatial memory, remembering words and numbers. The students who do not play video games will be the control group. The students who play the different types of games will therefore be the test group, with the video games acting as the key independent variable in the study. Performance on these different tests will be the dependent variable.

The null hypothesis is that action video games will improve spatial memory, but will not improve verbal or numeric memory. Quest or puzzle games will be found to improve all three types of memory. There is risk, however, that these results will be skewed a little bit. People who are drawn to puzzle or quest games might be already predisposed to higher levels of cognition, so we are just looking at correlations in this study, not causation.

It would be difficult to determine that these games actually improve memory if the people who play them have a different cognitive starting position than the control group. However, this is an exploratory study, and if evidence is found to support the initial null hypothesis, then this would clearly highlight the need for future study in this area. Materials The materials used will be established tests for visual memory, verbal memory and numerical memory. These will be tests that are based on, or have been used in, other studies.

The studies are not necessarily going to be video game studies, but anything where short-term memory is utilized. The students will need to complete the different evaluations in a peaceful setting that is free from distraction, so a classroom space will be procured for the administration of the different tests. Further material needs will be paper, pens and computers for tabulating and processing the response that the students provide. The choice of tests will be the most important aspect of the resources.

Measures Each test that will be used will have its own set of measures to identify the different competencies. For the most part, these tests are simply a matter of did the person remember what they were supposed to. They will be tested over a 24-hour period, so presented with something one day and asked to recall it the next. The results are therefore easy to tabulate, because they are comparable across the students. The demographic information and video game playing information are also relatively easy to measure.

The different qualitative demographic data points will end up in a regression as dummy variables, but they can still be subjected to quantitative analysis techniques. There will be a question about video game playing as well, relating to how much the person plays video games, as the study expects to find that people who play games more will see more pronounced impacts, as the games will have had more opportunity to change the brain structure. Results and Discussion Results -- Descriptive Statistics The total study had 154 participants (n = 154).

These were divided into 61 action video game players, 39 puzzle/quest game players and 54 non-video game players. The respondents were 53.2% male (n = 82) and 46.7% female (n = 72). The students were predominantly Caucasian (n = 110), with smaller groups of African-American ( n= 18) and Asian-American (n = 25) students, and 1 other. The students were all either undergraduate or graduate-level university students drawn from the local population. There was no study on geography or age beyond this, as these were not variables that we were interested in testing. The control group consisted of 54 non-video game players.

These students provided the baseline performance levels on the three tests. The action video game players were found to perform slightly higher on the visual-spatial test than the control group. They were found to have roughly the same performance on verbal memory, but slightly weaker performance on numerical memory. The second group of gamers, who played puzzle/quest games, were found to score higher on visual-spatial memory than either the control group or the action game players.

They scored roughly the same as the control group on verbal memory, but had the highest scores for numerical memory among the groups. These findings confirm the null hypotheses, with one exception. It was not believed that the performance of the action gamers would be lower on numerical memory than the control group, but there was some evidence of weaker performance. The scores were not substantially weaker, so may simply have been an aberration. Results -- Inferential Statistics There are some challenges in extrapolating these results to a broader population.

While the sample sizes were sufficient to produce robust results, there were some other issues. First, we worked with the hypothesis that students who are drawn to puzzles and quest games have a higher baseline level of numeric and verbal memory, and therefore would outperform the other groups regardless of whether they played these games or not. The correlation between those types of games and higher numerical short-term memory may not be the result of any causal effect.

The other issue with respect to inferential statistics is that the respondents are all students, which were of the same age and of a certain intellectual level. As such, the population that can be examined on the basis of this sample consisted of university students of a similar demographic profile, rather than all Americans or even all young people of that age group. Otherwise, however, these findings can be extrapolated to this population, as the results were found to be significant in nature.

It is possible, however, that some sample size issues and the natural variances that can occur with test-taking limit the ability of extrapolating these findings, in particular where results are close, such as the results pertaining to the numerical memory performance of the action video game group.

Future studies should include a broader group of participants in order to expand the population to which data gathered can be extrapolated, but there is some breadth to this population, enough that future hypotheses can be formulated on the basis of these findings, thus allowing these findings to contribute to future research on the subject. Discussion Retaining the Null Hypothesis The null hypothesis was retained.

There was sufficient evidence in this study to support the null hypothesis that action video games can help to improve visual-spatial memory, but will not help to improve either numerical or verbal memory. There was also sufficient evidence in this study to retain the null hypothesis that quiz/puzzle games can help to improve visual-spatial and numerical memory. These findings confirm prior studies on the subject, which have also been able to draw a connection between video games and certain cognition functions.

The evidence shows strong correlations between students who perform well on visual-spatial tests and those who play video games. Both types of game have strong visual elements, where picking visual clues and remembering backgrounds and layouts of the game world are important elements in success at the games.

The null hypotheses were built on the evidence that exists demonstrating effects on the brain that result from long-term use of video games, and give rise to the possibility that video games can be used to help this type of short-term memory in some individuals. The study cannot be taken outside of the population, however. The evidence supporting the null hypotheses regarding numerical and verbal short-term memory was less strong, but still valid. In particular, people who play quest/puzzle games seem to have high numerical recognition.

Success in these games often relates to solving puzzles, interpreting clues and other intellectual aspects, so confirmation of this null hypothesis is not that surprising. That said, this is a corollary relationship, not a causal one. There will need to be further study with respect to the causal relationship that might exist. Rejecting the Null Hypothesis The null hypothesis is not accepted for the relationship between quest/puzzle games and verbal short-term memory. In this study, there was no marked improvement in that form of memory among the.