Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Bauer, Gordon

Keywords

Psychology, Video Games, Perception

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

The effects of video game training with an action or puzzle video game on a measure of visuospatial cognition were examined. Older adults and college students were initially tested on useful field of view (UFOV), i.e., the area of the visual field from which information can be extracted at a glance. Following this visual pre-test, participants either played a racing game or a puzzle game for 15 hours (in one hour sessions) over a period of 3 weeks. A control group did not play a game. Participants were then re-tested on UFOV and completed a survey on video game enjoyment. College students did not change UFOV total scores, probably due to a ceiling effect. In older participants, the control group and racing group did not change. However, participants in the puzzle group showed large improvements, suggesting video game training improved perceptual abilities. Little data were obtained on game enjoyment, but high participant mortality in the racing group suggested low enjoyment for the racing game.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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