An exploration of gaming, problem solving, spatial skills, and persistence

Abstract

The aim of the study was to discover if playing a popular video game (Portal 2) would result in short-term cognitive and psychological improvements, namely problem solving, spatial skills, and persistence. It partially replicated previous research by Shute, Ventura and Ke (2015), which found that playing Portal 2 was associated with cognitive and non-cognitive gains in comparison to the control condition. In this study, 40 participants with a male to female ratio of 18:22, and an age range of 20-64 (M= 30.83 years; SD = 10.39), were assigned to the gameplay or control condition. Participants completed paper-based tests before and after 0h or 2h of gameplay within a 2-week timeframe. The tests measured cognitive flexibility and mental rotation ability, while self-report surveys computed gaming experience and persistence. Results revealed that participants in the gameplay condition did not significantly differ from participants in the control condition on each of the measures, F(1,36) = .729, p > .399, 3.263, p > .065, 1.177, p > .285. The author discusses results in terms of study limitations. Findings may also offer practical applications to video game developers and upcoming researchers within the field of computer gaming. Future research should carefully consider the use of the Remote Associates Test to measure cognitive flexibility and a performance-based measure of persistence is suggested.