DOOM'd to switch: Superior cognitive fl exibility in players of first person shooter games

Abstract

The interest in the infl uence of videogame experience on our daily life is constantly growing. "First Person Shooter" (FPS) games require players to develop a fl exible mindset to rapidly react to fast moving visual and auditory stimuli, and to switch back and forth between different subtasks. This study investigated whether and to which degree experience with such videogames generalizes to other cognitive-control tasks. Video-game players (VGPs) and individuals with little to no videogame experience (NVGPs) performed on a task switching paradigm that provides a relatively well-established diagnostic measure of cognitive fl exibility. As predicted, VGPs showed smaller switching costs (i.e., greater cognitive fl exibility) than NVGPs. Our fi ndings support the idea that playing FPS games promotes cognitive fl exibility. © 2010 Colzato, van Leeuwen, van den Wildenberg and Hommel.