Shooting Your Accuracy in the Foot? Examining the Short-Term Effect of Playing an Action or Strategy Video Game on Cognitive Control

The current study examined the effects of brief video game exposure on cognitive control using event-related potentials (ERPs). Cognitive control was assessed by ERP components associated with the ability to detect (N2) and resolve (SP) conflict when the conflict was either expected or unexpected. After playing either an action or strategy video game, participants completed a counting Stroop task while ERPs were recorded. The proportion of congruent to incongruent trials was manipulated across blocks to create conditions where conflict was expected or unexpected. While visual inspection of the behavioral and neural data revealed interesting patterns by video game, none of those effects were statistically significant. This is consistent with some previous work and inconsistent with other published data, suggesting that there is still much to learn about the relationship between cognitive control and video game experience.