Action video-game training and its effects on perception and attentional control

Abstract

Over the past four decades, video games have become a ubiquitous part of modern culture. Interestingly, although such games have often been thought of as mindless entertainment, a substantial body of research has demonstrated that video games have the potential to significantly impact a variety of human abilities and behaviors. While these effects cut widely across many disciplines, including those in education, psychology, and neuroscience, this chapter focuses on the positive impact that playing one specific subtype of video game-known as "action video games"-has on perceptual and attentional processing. Here we discuss methodological issues in assessing the impact of action gaming on perceptual and attentional skills, the empirical findings themselves, potential mechanistic/neural underpinnings of these effects, and possible practical applications.