skip to main content
10.1145/3130859.3131329acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication Pageschi-playConference Proceedingsconference-collections
Work in Progress

Roller Coaster Park Manager by Day Problem Solver by Night: Effect of Video Game Play on Problem Solving

Published: 15 October 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Do video games improve problem solving? Eighty-one participants played a roller coaster tycoon or answered a series of personality questionnaires prior to attempting insight problems. Participants played Roller Coaster Tycoon Deluxe for 30 minutes game or completed a series of unrelated questionnaires and then solved as many spatial insight problems as they could. Participants in the game condition slightly outperformed those in the control condition for insight problems, and participants who scored lower on the Cognitive Reflection Test benefited from the video game. These results provide initial support that video games can provide warm-up and practice avenues for problem solvers to develop and improve higher-level cognitive strategies that can transfer to the real world.

References

[1]
Atari and Infrogames. 2003. RollerCoaster Tycoon Deluxe. Game [PC]. (8 May 2003). Atari, New York City, USA. Played March 2017.
[2]
P. Adachi and T. Willoughby. 2013. More than Just Fun and Games: The Longitudinal Relationships Between Strategic Video Games, Self-Reported Problem Solving Skills, and Academic Graces. Youth Adolescence. 42: 1041--1052
[3]
W.R. Boot, D. P. Blakely & D. J. Simons. 2011. Do action video games improve perception and cognition?. Frontiers in psychology, 2.
[4]
J. Breuer, 2011. (In) formative play: the effects of digital games on creativity and problem-solving skills. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games (pp. 241--243). ACM.
[5]
J. Cunningham. 2009. Categories of insight and their correlates: An exploreation of relationships among classic-type insight problems, rebus puzzels, remote associates and esoteric analogies. Journal of Creative Behavior. 43 (4): 262--280
[6]
J. Davidson & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.) 1995. The nature of insight. MIT Press.
[7]
S. Frederick. 2005. Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making. Journal of Economic Perspectives 19 (4): 25--42.
[8]
J. Gee. 2003. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Palgrave Macmillian Ltd., New York, N.Y.
[9]
I. Granic, et al. 2014. The Benefits of Playing Video Games. American Psychologist. 69 (1): 66--78.
[10]
S. Green, & D. Bavelier, 2003. Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423(6939), 534--537.
[11]
R. Mayer. 2014. Computer Games for Learning: An Evidence-Based Approach. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
[12]
J. McGonigal. 2011. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. The Penguin Press, New York, NY.
[13]
E. Veinott, et al. 2013. The effect of 3rd person perspective and session duration on training decision making in a serious video game. In Games Innovation Conference (IGIC), 2013 IEEE International (pp. 256--262). IEEE. Vancouver, BC.
[14]
E. Veinott, et al. 2014. The effect of cognitive and visual fidelity on decision making: Is more information better? In GEM (Formerly IEEE Games Innovation Conference (IGIC), 2014 IEEE International. IEEE. Toronto, ON.

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Downloading Creativity Mods: Improving Our Problem-Solving Skill TransferProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting10.1177/1071181324127752568:1(1221-1226)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2024
  • (2022)Using Strategy Video Games to Improve Problem Solving and Communication Skills: A Systematic Literature Review2022 4th International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent System (ICORIS)10.1109/ICORIS56080.2022.10031539(1-5)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2022
  • (2019)Leaving Hints: Using Player In-Game Hints to Measure and Improve LearningHCI International 2019 – Late Breaking Posters10.1007/978-3-030-30712-7_29(222-230)Online publication date: 20-Sep-2019
  • Show More Cited By

Recommendations

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences
CHI PLAY '17 Extended Abstracts: Extended Abstracts Publication of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play
October 2017
700 pages
ISBN:9781450351119
DOI:10.1145/3130859
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

Sponsors

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 15 October 2017

Check for updates

Author Tags

  1. cognitive skills
  2. perspective shifting
  3. problem solving
  4. video games

Qualifiers

  • Work in progress

Conference

CHI PLAY '17
Sponsor:

Acceptance Rates

CHI PLAY '17 Extended Abstracts Paper Acceptance Rate 46 of 178 submissions, 26%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 421 of 1,386 submissions, 30%

Contributors

Other Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

  • Downloads (Last 12 months)8
  • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
Reflects downloads up to 21 Jan 2025

Other Metrics

Citations

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Downloading Creativity Mods: Improving Our Problem-Solving Skill TransferProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting10.1177/1071181324127752568:1(1221-1226)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2024
  • (2022)Using Strategy Video Games to Improve Problem Solving and Communication Skills: A Systematic Literature Review2022 4th International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent System (ICORIS)10.1109/ICORIS56080.2022.10031539(1-5)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2022
  • (2019)Leaving Hints: Using Player In-Game Hints to Measure and Improve LearningHCI International 2019 – Late Breaking Posters10.1007/978-3-030-30712-7_29(222-230)Online publication date: 20-Sep-2019
  • (2019)Intelligent Tutoring Design Alternatives in a Serious GameAdaptive Instructional Systems10.1007/978-3-030-22341-0_13(151-165)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2019
  • (2018)The Tracer MethodProceedings of the 2018 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play Companion Extended Abstracts10.1145/3270316.3271522(585-593)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2018

View Options

Login options

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

PDF

eReader

View online with eReader.

eReader

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share this Publication link

Share on social media