projects

2024

1. RG

   

   Embracing Complexity through Ill-Structured Problems - Play Traces Analyses of the Food Systems Game AL2049 (Master’s Thesis)

   Kenneth Rioja

   Sep 2024

   Abstract OSF

   This master’s thesis examines how players face ill-structured problems by interacting with a food systems game. The research investigates how a specific game design can nudge players to investigate multiple solutions to an ill-structured problem, rather than relying on a single approach. This work deciphers players’ epistemic development (i.e., the ability to reshape prior knowledge and construct newer ones, Sanchez, 2022) through their exploration of the game’s topic complexity. The study employs quantitative methods such as simple and multiple linear regression, correlation, clustering, and dynamic time series analysis to uncover patterns in play behavior. The analyses culminate in creating a complexity index that reflects players’ epistemic development and their effectiveness in navigating complex scenarios within the game. This methodological framework provides a detailed set of indicators for each session, enabling the identification of epistemic development through the exploration of the game’s representation of food system complexity.

2023

1. TMB

   

   Unraveling the Link Between Media Multitasking and Attention Across Three Samples

   Kenneth Rioja, Sezen Cekic, Daphne Bavelier, and Susanne E. Baumgartner

   Technology, Mind, and Behavior, Jul 2023

   Abstract Supp Mat OSF

   A negative link between media multitasking and sustained attention has been proposed; yet, whether such a link exists remains hotly debated as previous studies found mixed effects. The present study seeks to evaluate the size of this effect taking into account possible variations due to how media multitasking is measured, how sustained attention is assessed, and the origin of the samples. Using an established and a novel, shortened measure for media multitasking, 924 participants were recruited through three different platforms (Amazon Mechanical Turk, Prolific, and university students). In addition to questionnaire- and task-based assessments for sustained attention, impulsivity and sensation seeking were also assessed to further qualify behavioral problems associated with media multitasking. The findings establish a negative link between media multitasking and sustained attention of a medium effect size, whether questionnaires (r = .20) or a task-based measure (r = .21) are used. Importantly, the findings support the notion that previous differences across studies can be at least partly attributed to the choice of media multitasking measure as well as differences across samples.

2. CABN

   

   Attentional Modulation as a Mechanism for Enhanced Facial Emotion Discrimination: The Case of Action Video Game Players

   Alina Ciobanu, Kengo Shibata, Lna Ali, Kenneth Rioja, Søren K. Andersen, Daphne Bavelier, and Benoit Bediou

   Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, Apr 2023

   Abstract Supp Mat

   Action video game players (AVGPs) outperform nonvideo game players (NVGPs) on a wide variety of attentional tasks, mediating benefits to perceptual and cognitive decision processes. A key issue in the literature is the extent to which such benefits transfer beyond cognition. Using steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) as a neural measure of attentional resource allocation, we investigated whether the attentional benefit of AVGPs generalizes to the processing of rapidly presented facial emotions. AVGPs (n = 36) and NVGPs (n = 32) performed a novel, attention-demanding emotion discrimination task, requiring the identification of a target emotion in one of two laterally presented streams of emotional faces. The emotional faces flickered at either 2.0 Hz or 2.5 Hz. AVGPs outperformed NVGPs at detecting the target emotions regardless of the type of emotion. Correspondingly, attentional modulation of the SSVEP at parieto-occipital recording sites was larger in AVGPs compared with NVGPs. This difference appeared to be driven by a larger response to attended information, as opposed to a reduced response to irrelevant distractor information. Exploratory analyses confirmed that this novel paradigm elicited the expected pattern of event-related potentials associated with target detection and error processing. These components did not, however, differ between groups. Overall, the results indicate enhanced discrimination of facial emotions in AVGPs arising from enhanced attentional processing of emotional information. This presents evidence for the attentional advantage of AVGPs to extend beyond perceptual and cognitive processes.