Reduced attentional capture in action video game players

Joseph D. Chisholm*, Clayton Hickey, Jan Theeuwes, Alan Kingstone

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

108 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent studies indicate that playing action video games improves performance on a number of attention-based tasks. However, it remains unclear whether action video game experience primarily affects endogenous or exogenous forms of spatial orienting. To examine this issue, action video game players and non-action video game players performed an attentional capture task. The results show that action video game players responded quicker than non-action video game players, both when a target appeared in isolation and when a salient, task-irrelevant distractor was present in the display. Action video game players additionally showed a smaller capture effect than did non-action video game players. When coupled with the findings of previous studies, the collective evidence indicates that extensive experience with action video games may enhance players' top-down attentional control, which, in turn, can modulate the negative effects of bottom-up attentional capture.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)667-671
Number of pages5
JournalAttention, Perception, and Psychophysics
Volume72
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2010

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Sensory Systems
  • Linguistics and Language

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