Meta-analysis of action video game impact on perceptual, attentional, and cognitive skills.

The ubiquity of video games in today's society has led to significant interest in their impact on the brain and behavior and in the possibility of harnessing games for good. The present meta-analyses focus on one specific game genre that has been of particular interest to the scientific community-action video games, and cover the period 2000-2015. To assess the long-lasting impact of action video game play on various domains of cognition, we first consider cross-sectional studies that inform us about the cognitive profile of habitual action video game players, and document a positive average effect of about half a standard deviation (g = 0.55). We then turn to long-term intervention studies that inform us…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

  Awards: 100014_140676, 100014_159506, 100014_159506 and 100014_140676
• OO
  Office of Naval Research

  Awards: N00014-11-1-0225, N00014-17-1-2049, N00014-17-1, N00014-14-1-0512, -17-1-2049, N00014