Can Spatial Cognition Be Trained with Video Games? (VG Series Part 3/10)
Part 3 of my series examining research evidence for the value of video games. This time: the potential of video games to improve spatial cognition.
Category: games
Does Personality Predict Vulnerability to Violence in Games? (VG Series Part 2/10)
Part 2 of my series examining research evidence for the value of video games. This time: a spherical model of personality for predicting video game violence.
Is Video Game Research Influenced by the Media? (Part 1/10)
In this 10-part series, I’m reviewing articles in a recent special issue of the Journal of General Psychology on video games across a variety of domains – child-rearing, education, entertainment, and even psychotherapy.
Playing Violent Video Games for a Release That Never Comes
A recent article in Psychological Science investigates the use of violent video games by people to experience catharsis – a “release” associated with pent-up aggressive energy. They found that when angered, people are more likely to seek violent video games for an emotional release, despite the fact that playing violent video games does not seem to actually provide that release.
Setting the Difficulty of Serious Training Games
Gamers say they want more challenging games, game studios produce challenging games, and then those games often don’t perform as well on the market as they should. This has important implications for the design of training games.
College Courses as Live Games
An instructor at Indiana University has replaced the A-F grading system in the courses he is teaching with a point system based on experience points.