The article reports a small study finding no link between how often people play video games and their visual or auditory spatial abilities, across both action and non-action genres. It also notes methodological limitations and calls for more nuanced approaches than simple gamer versus non-gamer comparisons.

This topic is of interest to psychology readers because it contributes to the ongoing exploration of how complex activities like gaming relate to cognitive functions, highlighting the importance of precise measurement and sample characteristics in cognitive research.

Article Title: Study finds no association between frequency of video game play and spatial abilities

Link to PsyPost Article: https://nolinkpreview.com/www.psypost.org/study-finds-no-association-between-frequency-of-video-game-play-and-spatial-abilities/

#video games #spatialabilities #cognition #visualspatial #auditoryspatial #gamingresearch #psychology #cognitivepsychology #mentalrotation #brainandbehavior

Just read the classic #MentalRotation paper by Shepard & Metzler (1971). It's wild to think it only has 8 participants but then again, each of them participated in eight to ten 1-hour testing session. You read that right, 8-10 hours per participant, just doing one task!

Furthermore, there are 0 references in the paper and the statistical analyses reported consist of two p values.

The standards have surely changed in the last 50 years. Then again, it'd be worrying if they didn't change.