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Playing TETRIS for science counter-regulatory affective processing in a motivationally "hot" context

Jason Rutter - Tue, 09/02/2010 - 13:58
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

We adapted the computer game TETRIS to investigate the process of affective-motivational counter-regulation, that is, attentional biases for emotional stimuli that are in opposition to the momentary Motivational focus. Counter-regulation is seen as a mechanism which should prevent escalation and impulsivity, and it should help to avoid becoming "locked up" in affective-motivational states. Accordingly, for a negative outcome focus condition (i.e., risk of losing a current high score), we hypothesized greater interference by positive distractors that were included in the game, whereas for a positive outcome focus (i.e., chance to improve one's current high score), we hypothesized greater interference by negative distractors. Supporting our hypotheses, we found the predicted interactions between distractor valence and type of outcome focus. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Theorizing Flow and Media Enjoyment as Cognitive Synchronization of Attentional and Reward Networks

Jason Rutter - Mon, 25/01/2010 - 08:50
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

This article reconceptualizes the psychological concept of "flow" as it pertains to media entertainment. Our goal is to advance flow theory in ways that highlight the necessity of reliable and valid operationalization. We posit flow as a discrete, energetically optimized, and gratifying experience resulting from a cognitive synchronization of specific attentional and reward networks under condition of balance between challenge and skill. We identify video-game play as a context in which flow is likely to occur, and where we can observe our neurophysiological conceptualization of flow using measurement techniques (functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI]) without disrupting the experiential state. After presenting preliminary evidence consistent with our synchronization theory of flow, we suggest ways to advance this research.

Collaborative Game-play as a Site for Participation and Situated Learning of a Second Language

Jason Rutter - Thu, 21/01/2010 - 11:32
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

This paper addresses additional language learning as rooted in participation in the social activity of collaborative game-play. Building on a social-interactional view of learning, it analyses some of the detailed practices through which players attend to a video game as the material and semiotic structure that shapes play and creates affordances for additional language learning. We describe how players engage with the language resources offered by the game, drawing on the vocabulary, constructions, prosodic features and utterances modelled on game dialogue, in building their own actions during collaborative play. With these resources, the players display their ongoing engagement with the game as well as their competences in recognising, reproducing and creatively reshaping the available linguistic resources in their own activities.

Relationships between spatial activities and scores on the mental rotation test as a function of sex

Jason Rutter - Fri, 09/03/2007 - 21:04
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Previous results suggested that female college students' scores on the Mental Rotations Test might be related to their prior experience with spatial tasks. For example, women who played video games scored better on the test than their non-game-playing peers, whereas playing video games was not related to men's scores. The present study examined whether participation in different types of spatial activities would be related to women's performance on the Mental Rotations Test. 31 men and 59 women enrolled at a small, private church-affiliated university and majoring in art or music as well as students who participated in intercollegiate athletics completed the Mental Rotations Test. Women's scores on the Mental Rotations Test benefitted from experience with spatial activities; the more types of experience the women had, the better their scores. Thus women who were athletes, musicians, or artists scored better than those women who had no experience with these activities. The opposite results were found for the men. Efforts are currently underway to assess how length of experience and which types of experience are related to scores.

Moderating effects of task type on wireless technology acceptance

Jason Rutter - Fri, 09/03/2007 - 21:01
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

The technology acceptance model (TAM) is one of the most widely used models of information technology (IT) adoption. According to TAM, IT adoption is influenced by two perceptions: usefulness and ease of use. In this study, we extend TAM to the mobile commerce context. We categorize the tasks performed on wireless handheld devices into three categories: (1) general tasks that do not involve transactions and gaming, (2) gaming tasks, and (3) transactional tasks. We propose a unified conceptual model for wireless technology adoption. In this model, task type moderates the effects of four possible determinants: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived playfulness, and perceived security. We postulate that, under the mobile context, user intention to perform general tasks that do not involve transactions and gaming is influenced by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, user intention to play games is affected by perceived playfulness, and user intention transact is influenced by perceived usefulness and perceived security. A survey was conducted to collect data about user perception of 12 tasks that could be performed on wireless handheld devices and user intention to use wireless technology. Multiple regression analyses supported the proposed research model.

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