Effects of video-game play on information processing: a meta-analytic investigation.

Do video games enhance cognitive functioning? We conducted two meta-analyses based on different research designs to investigate how video games impact information-processing skills (auditory processing, executive functions, motor skills, spatial imagery, and visual processing). Quasi-experimental studies (72 studies, 318 comparisons) compare habitual gamers with controls; true experiments (46 studies, 251 comparisons) use commercial video games in training. Using random-effects models, video games led to improved information processing in both the quasi-experimental studies, d = 0.61, 95% CI [0.50, 0.73], and the true experiments, d = 0.48, 95% CI [0.35, 0.60]. Whereas the quasi-experimental studies yielded small to large effect sizes across domains, the true experiments yielded negligible effects for executive functions, which contrasted with the small to medium effect sizes in other domains. The quasi-experimental studies appeared more susceptible to bias than were the true experiments, with larger effects being reported in higher-tier than in lower-tier journals, and larger effects reported by the most active research groups in comparison with other labs. The results are further discussed with respect to other moderators and limitations in the extant literature.

Display color affects motion sickness symptoms in an optokinetic drum.

BACKGROUND: Many stationary participants who view the patterned interior of a rotating cylinder (optokinetic drum) experience motion sickness (MS) symptoms. Most drum interiors have consisted of black and white patterns. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of chromaticity on MS onset and severity. METHODS: There were 12 individuals who participated in the experiment (4 men, 8 women, mean age = 25). Keeping rotation speed constant (5 RPM), the color of vertical stripes in an optokinetic drum was manipulated. There were three conditions used: 1) alternating black and white stripes; 2) gray stripes having different luminance values; and 3) chromatic stripes (white, red, yellow, black, green, and blue) that approximately matched the luminance values of the stripes in the gray condition. Every 2 min, eight motion sickness symptoms were assessed (for up to 16 min) using a subjective scale (0 = none, 1 = slight, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe). RESULTS: Overall, MS onset was fastest, and symptoms the most severe, in the chromatic condition. The two major MS symptoms that were significantly affected were headache and dizziness. CONCLUSIONS: Chromaticity may affect how much an observer's visual environment appears to be stationary, perhaps because chromaticity is such a common feature of the stationary environment in which our visual system evolved. In an optokinetic drum, the addition of chromaticity may increase the disparity between visual and vestibular inputs, a factor thought by many to contribute to MS onset and severity.