Locally-directed visual attention as assessed by the attentional blink: Does video game experience really matter?

Abstract

Studies have demonstrated the potential visuo-cognitive benefits of action video gaming, e.g. reduced attentional blink (Green & Bavelier, 2003), although such effects are controversial (e.g. Murphy & Spencer, 2009). It is unclear whether visual-attentional benefits, if present, hold when attention is restricted and directed locally, in the presence of potentially conflicting global information. Here, we investigated the role of action video game experience on locally-directed visual attention by testing video-gamers (n = 18), and non-video-gamers (n = 18) on an RSVP sequence composed of congruent and incongruent Navon figures. Participants were asked to selectively attend to local aspects of the stimuli only and identify the first target and the presence of a second target. Attentional blink (AB) was quantified as the impairment in detection of a second target. Results indicated a pronounced attentional blink in both groups, with no significant difference in the magnitude of AB between groups. This is in contrast to a significant advantage for video-gamers versus non-gamers if attention is instead globally-directed (Wong et al., unpublished data). The findings suggest that visual-attentional advantages as traditionally reported for extensive video-gaming experience does not extend to a restricted local system that may tap into a slower parvocellular (P)-pathway.