Selektiv opmærksomhed hos actiongamere

Abstract

This bachelor’s thesis examines whether action video games have an influence on selective attention. Therefore, it places itself within the field of cognitive psychology. Due to the in- creased number of gamers in the recent years, it has become even more important to exam- ine the interaction between gamer and video game. The thesis presents a theoretical foun- dation of visual selective attention as well as two methods used within the field of video games effect on selective attention; the ‘Useful Field of View’ and the ‘Theory of Visual At- tention’. Furthermore, this thesis presents two empirical studies, one for each of the empiri- cal methods, and analyses the methodological problems of these. Thus, it is examined whether the two studies share the same concept of selective attention.

This thesis finds that there are many differences between the two studies and their empiri- cal methods, which complicates comparison between the two studies. The problems found, include differences in which visuospatial area is examined as well as differences in the tasks performed by the participants. This leads to a discussion of differences in the empirical un- derstanding of selective attention of the methods. Thus, it is concluded that due to the found differences it is difficult to generalize the results. The empirical studies imply that there might be improved selective attention in the visual periphery of action gamers.

Bedømmelse: 12