Nothing else matters: Video games create sustained attentional selection away from task-irrelevant features
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Nothing else matters: Video games create sustained attentional selection away from task-irrelevant features Joe Cutting 1
&
Paul Cairns 2 & Gustav Kuhn 3
Published online: 11 September 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Feature-based attention allocates resources to particular stimulus features and reduces processing and retention of unattended features. We performed four experiments using self-paced video games to investigate whether sustained attentional selection of features could be created without a distractor task requiring continuous processing. Experiments 1 and 2 compared two versions of the game Two Dots, each containing a sequence of images. For the more immersive game post-game recognition of images was very low, but for the less immersive game it was significantly higher. Experiments 3 and 4 found that post-game image recognition was very low if the images were irrelevant to the game task but significantly higher if the images were relevant to the task. We conclude that games create sustained attentional selection away from task-irrelevant features, even if they are in full view, which leads to reduced retention. This reduced retention is due to differences in attentional set rather than a response to limited processing resources. The consistency of this attentional selection is moderated by the level of immersion in the game. We also discuss possible attentional mechanisms for the changes in recognition rates and the implications for applications such as serious games. Keywords Attention: Selective . Attention: Divided Attention and Inattention . Attention: Interactions with Memory
Introduction Attention allows us to selectively process information by diverting cognitive resources towards the attended stimulus and away from other unattended stimuli (Carrasco, 2011; Desimone & Duncan, 1995). As such, attention plays a pivotal role in our conscious perception, and understanding its cognitive mechanisms has important theoretical and practical implications. Much of the research on attention has examined participants’ ability to process stimuli outside of their current attentional selection (e.g., Lavie et al., 2014; Mack & Rock, 1998; Simons & Chabris, 1999). Our attentional system operates on multiple levels of information processing streams. At its earliest level, our attentional selection is driven by what our eyes fixate on (i.e., overt attention), but looking at an
* Joe Cutting [email protected] 1
Digital Creativity Labs, University of York, York, UK
2
Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, UK
3
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
object does not necessarily imply you will perceive it. Research on inattentional blindness (IB) has shown that if covert attention is sufficiently engaged on the main task then participants may not consciously perceive the presence of irrelevant stimuli even when this occurs at fixation (Mack & Rock, 1998; Most et al., 2001; Simons & Chabris, 1999). Attention can also be selected on or away from particul
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