Parents May No Longer Argue Gamers Indulge in Brainless Activities
Author: Kyoto University
Published: 8 Sep 2022 - Updated: 29 Jun 2026
Publication Details: Peer-Reviewed | Research, Study, Analysis
Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Definition - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates - Related Content
Synopsis: This research, a peer-reviewed study from Kyoto University and BonBon Inc published in Scientific Reports, demonstrates that a well-designed video game can empirically measure several distinct cognitive abilities while still keeping the entertainment value players expect. The work is useful because it moves the long-running gaming debate onto scientific footing - by pairing data from a 3-D action game called Potion with established cognitive tests maintained by the University of Pennsylvania, the team mapped specific in-game actions to mental skills, such as stealth behavior tied to abstract thinking and aiming tied to attention. For parents, educators, seniors, and people interested in cognitive health, the findings offer measured evidence that gameplay can reflect real cognitive engagement, while also cautioning that demographic factors and gaming experience shape the results enough that one-size-fits-all studies fall short.*
At a Glance
- 1 - Targeting in the game lined up with visual discrimination.
- 2 - The cognitive links seen in young players did not appear in older ones, which surprised the researchers.
- 3 - The team suggests this granular view of cognitive engagement could benefit psychiatry, psychology, and education research.
- Topic Definition: Cognition
Cognition is the mental action and process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. It spans the full range of intellectual functions - perception, attention, memory and working memory, reasoning, judgment, problem-solving, decision-making, comprehension, and language - and even includes imagination, since picturing possibilities is itself a form of thinking. In practice, cognitive processes draw on the knowledge a person already holds while also generating new knowledge, which is why measuring how the mind engages during an activity like gameplay can reveal so much about the abilities behind it.
Introduction
Video Games Can Measure Distinct Cognitive Abilities
Parents and pundits - a pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area - may no longer argue that gamers indulge in brainless activities in front of their screens. And gamers may finally feel a sense of vindication.
Kyoto University and BonBon Inc, a Kyoto-based healthcare-related IT company, have now teamed up to show that multiple cognitive abilities may be empirically measured from a complex game experience depending on the game's design.
"Video games can be made to engage and characterize distinct cognitive abilities while still retaining the entertainment value that popular titles offer," says Tomihiro Ono, lead author of the joint study in Scientific Reports.
He adds:
"For example, we found that there are in-game micro-level connections such as between stealth behavior and abstract thinking, aiming and attention, and targeting and visual discrimination."
Main Content
To make these connections between complex gameplay and interpretable cognitive characteristics, the team combined the use of data from Potion, a 3-D action video game by BonBon Inc, and WebCNP, conventional cognitive tests maintained by the University of Pennsylvania.
Although existing literature and general beliefs regarding similar action video games already suggest the advantage that younger males may have over other demographic groups, the researchers did not expect to obtain measurements reflecting stark differences even after accounting for the gaming experience.
"The lack of a connection between cognitive abilities and video game elements in aged players came as a surprise," Ono notes.
To attain more scientific insight into gamers' psyche, such as why computer games positively influence some players, the researchers posit that studies using games ought to avoid one-size-fits-all approaches, as demographic factors and game experience can be assumed to affect results.
"We think that a granular understanding of cognitive engagement in video games has the potential to benefit such research areas as psychiatry, psychology, and education," concludes the author.
The Paper:
"Novel 3‐D action video game mechanics reveal differentiable cognitive constructs in young players, but not in old" appeared on 21 July 2022 in Scientific Reports.
Related Information
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- Behavior Problems and Excessive Electronic Device Use
- Link Between Excessive Screen Time and Teen Suicide Risk
- Screen Time Linked to Child Psychological Problems
- Too Much TV, Video and Computer Making Teens Fatter
- When Children Are Allowed TV and Games in Bedroom
- Use of Electronic Devices to Calm Kids
Insights, Analysis, and Developments
Editorial Note: The headline almost writes itself - gamers finally have a paper to wave at skeptical parents - but the more interesting takeaway sits in the fine print, where a game built for fun turned out to double as a measuring instrument for the mind, and where the absence of those same cognitive signals in older players raises as many questions as the study answers about how age reshapes the way we engage with what is on the screen .*Attribution/Source(s): This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Kyoto University and published on 8 Sep 2022, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.
* Editorial additions by Ian C. Langtree.