@article{ref1,
title="Improved probabilistic inference as a general learning mechanism with action video games",
journal="Current biology",
year="2010",
author="Green, C. Shawn and Pouget, Alexandre and Bavelier, Daphne",
volume="20",
number="17",
pages="1573-1579",
abstract="Action video game play benefits performance in an array of sensory, perceptual, and attentional tasks that go well beyond the specifics of game play [1-9]. That a training regimen may induce improvements in so many different skills is notable because the majority of studies on training-induced learning report improvements on the trained task but limited transfer to other, even closely related, tasks ([10], but see also [11-13]). Here we ask whether improved probabilistic inference may explain such broad transfer. By using a visual perceptual decision making task [14, 15], the present study shows for the first time that action video game experience does indeed improve probabilistic inference. A neural model of this task [16] establishes how changing a single parameter, namely the strength of the connections between the neural layer providing the momentary evidence and the layer integrating the evidence over time, captures improvements in action-gamers behavior. These results were established in a visual, but also in a novel auditory, task, indicating generalization across modalities. Thus, improved probabilistic inference provides a general mechanism for why action video game playing enhances performance in a wide variety of tasks. In addition, this mechanism may serve as a signature of training regimens that are likely to produce transfer of learning.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0960-9822",
doi="10.1016/j.cub.2010.07.040",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.07.040"
}