The use of Video Game Technology for Investigating Perceptual and Cognitive Awareness in Sports

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Mulligan Desmond Dobson Mike McCracken Janet
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

This paper describes a framework for investigating and manipulating the attentional components of video game play in order to affect learning transfer across different task environments. Several groups of video game players (VGP) and non video game players – both hockey and non-hockey groups (NVGPH, NVGP) will be tested at baseline on several aspects of visual processing skill. The NVGP and NVGPH groups will then train for one week in an action video game playing environment. They will then be re-tested for attentional efficiency. The hockey group will also be tested before and after training on a pattern and cue recognition sport video test. We intend to show that, not only does video game play alter basic components of visual attentional resources, but that it can also enhance perceptual learning transfer across unrelated task domains.

 

From real-world data to game world experience: Social analysis methods for developing plausible & engaging learning games

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Dobson Mike Ha Daniel Mulligan Desmond Ciavarro Chad
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

This paper is based on work to develop an interactive learning game called HEALTHSIMNET that is meant for improving practice in a health care network. It considers three selected models for analysis of documentary data acquired during semi-structured interviews with participants of a network of health practitioners in the HIV field. The paper briefly reviews the expansive theory of learning but mainly explains how the three techniques can yield interactive narrative. We end with a description of the game and a discussion of the extent to which games developed using this method can be said to sustain the kind of learning described by activity theory.