Keywords

Action games, driving, distraction

Abstract

Driving is a complex task that is highly reliant on attention. Research states that distractions cause performance errors thus it is important to find ways to reduce driver distraction or assist drivers with ways to improve their cognitive resources if distraction is unavoidable. Moreover, research indicates that action video game players outperform non-players on labbased tests of visual and cognitive abilities. However, research also exists that is contrary to these findings. Some researchers suggest that methodological deficiencies could be the cause of the significant findings in the literature. With such fervor of debate on the subject, the question remains of whether players acquire skills through playing action video games and if so can these games be used as research or training tools to enhance performance on realistic tasks. To answer this question, 45 male participants were tested using psychometric measures of spatial ability (Spatial orientation and visualization) and failures of attention (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire), and then all participants drove four 10-minute drives in a driving simulator. The first drive was a practice, followed by a control drive. Participants were then distracted using a hands free phone conversation. Following that, participants completed a final control drive. Both overall video game experience and action video game experience was positively related to higher spatial ability scores. Additionally, participants with higher action game experience exhibited fewer lane deviations during driving overall, but not during the distraction condition. On the other hand, participants with higher spatial ability scores exhibited fewer lane deviations during the distraction condition, but not during the control drives. Furthermore, action video game experience was not significant on the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire. Therefore, it was concluded that individuals who have higher action game experience do not show improvements on any iv abilities of attention tested in this study. However, higher experience action video game players may perform better in simulated environments than those with less experience.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2012

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Smither, Janan

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Modeling and Simulation

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004434

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004434

Language

English

Release Date

August 2012

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Graduate Studies,Graduate Studies -- Dissertations, Academic

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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