evaluatingdesign.com

Several studies on visual attention have indicated that experienced action video game players (FPS players) show greater performance on visual attention tasks than their counterparts who do not play video games (For more information on much of the research on links between video game players and performance on visual attention tasks, see Dr. Daphne Bavelier’s publications). This effect has been shown across multiple types of visual attention tasks, including functional field of view, multiple object tracking, subitizing and enumeration tasks.

While much of the current research has hypothesized that particular tasks (such as detecting enemies, tracking objects, or avoiding attacks) may be the cause of the improvements in visual performance, few studies have attempted to (1) eye track subjects during these visual attention tasks or (2) replicate the effects seen in earlier studies in a video game.

To accomplish this, we are tracking participants over a series of visual attention tasks, while also replicating the functional field of view study within Quake 4. To do this, we are having participants detect enemies who appear at different visual degrees from the reticle (examples seen below).

By having a video game player view short scenarios where game characters appear at varied degrees of visual angle from the reticle, we can approximate a functional field of view task.

These findings should not only replicate earlier effects in the game environment, but should also provide insight into how operating in a game environment might alter visual attention.