Effect of action video games on the spatial distribution of visuospatial attention.

TLDR

The authors investigated the effect of action gaming on the spatial distribution of attention. They used a flanker compatibility paradigm to separately assess central and peripheral attentional resources in gamers versus nongamers, and a target localization task to confirm that action gaming enhances visual attention across a wide field of view. Gamers showed enhanced attentional resources in both central and peripheral vision, were more accurate than nongamers at all eccentricities—including when a concurrent center task was added—demonstrating that action gaming causally improves visuospatial attention across the visual field.

Abstract

The authors investigated the effect of action gaming on the spatial distribution of attention. The authors used the flanker compatibility effect to separately assess center and peripheral attentional resources in gamers versus nongamers. Gamers exhibited an enhancement in attentional resources compared with nongamers, not only in the periphery but also in central vision. The authors then used a target localization task to unambiguously establish that gaming enhances the spatial distribution of visual attention over a wide field of view. Gamers were more accurate than nongamers at all eccentricities tested, and the advantage held even when a concurrent center task was added, ruling out a trade-off between central and peripheral attention. By establishing the causal role of gaming through training studies, the authors demonstrate that action gaming enhances visuospatial attention throughout the visual field.