What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy

Our central goal is to provide a definition of boredom in terms of the underlying mental processes that occur during an instance of boredom. Through the synthesis of psychodynamic, existential, arousal, and cognitive theories of boredom, we argue that boredom is universally conceptualized as "the aversive experience of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity." We propose to map this conceptualization onto underlying mental processes. Specifically, we propose that boredom be defined in terms of attention. That is, boredom is the aversive state that occurs when we (a) are not able to successfully engage attention with internal (e.g., thoughts or feelings) or external (e.g., environmental stimuli) information required for participating in satisfying activity, (b) are focused on the fact that we are not able to engage attention and participate in satisfying activity, and (c) attribute the cause of our aversive state to the environment. We believe that our definition of boredom fully accounts for the phenomenal experience of boredom, brings existing theories of boredom into dialogue with one another, and suggests specific directions for future research on boredom and attention.

The Unengaged Mind: Defining Boredom in Terms of Attention

Our smartphones enable—and encourage—constant connection to information, entertainment, and each other. They put the world at our fingertips, and rarely leave our sides. Although these devi...

/pdf/brain-drain-the-mere-presence-of-one-s-own-smartphone-4yxpsswqqp.pdf

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

A long tradition of research including classical rhetoric, aesthetics and poetics theory, formalism and structuralism, as well as current perspectives in (neuro)cognitive poetics has investigated structural and functional aspects of literature reception. Despite a wealth of literature published in specialised journals like Poetics, however, still little is known about how the brain processes and creates literary and poetic texts. Still, such stimulus material might be suited better than other genres for demonstrating the complexities with which our brain constructs the world in and around us, because it unifies thought and language, music and imagery in a clear, manageable way, most often with play, pleasure, and emotion (Schrott & Jacobs, 2011). In this paper, I discuss methods and models for investigating the neuronal and cognitive-affective bases of literary reading together with pertinent results from studies on poetics, text processing, emotion, or neuroaesthetics, and outline current challenges and future perspectives.

/pdf/neurocognitive-poetics-methods-and-models-for-investigating-1zuaospyj6.pdf

Neurocognitive poetics: methods and models for investigating the neuronal and cognitive-affective bases of literature reception.

Background Video gaming is an increasingly popular activity in contemporary society, especially among young people, and video games are increasing in popularity not only as a research tool but also as a field of study Many studies have focused on the neural and behavioral effects of video games, providing a great deal of video game derived brain correlates in recent decades There is a great amount of information, obtained through a myriad of methods, providing neural correlates of video games Objectives We aim to understand the relationship between the use of video games and their neural correlates, taking into account the whole variety of cognitive factors that they encompass Methods A systematic review was conducted using standardized search operators that included the presence of video games and neuro-imaging techniques or references to structural or functional brain changes Separate categories were made for studies featuring Internet Gaming Disorder and studies focused on the violent content of video games Results A total of 116 articles were considered for the final selection One hundred provided functional data and twenty two measured structural brain changes One-third of the studies covered video game addiction, and 14% focused on video game related violence Conclusions Despite the innate heterogeneity of the field of study, it has been possible to establish a series of links between the neural and cognitive aspects, particularly regarding attention, cognitive control, visuospatial skills, cognitive workload and reward processing However, many aspects could be improved The lack of standardization in the different aspects of video game-related research, such as the participants’ characteristics, the features of each video game genre and the diverse study goals could contribute to discrepancies in many related studies

/pdf/neural-basis-of-video-gaming-a-systematic-review-219fz5ytz1.pdf

Neural Basis of Video Gaming: A Systematic Review.

This article suggests a reconceptualization of the psychological concept of flow as it pertains to mediated experiences. We specifically aim to further flow theory as applied to media entertainment in ways that highlight the necessity of reliable and valid operationalizations and measurements. The concept of flow originates in Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) theory of human happiness, balance, and optimal experience. Its original formulation posits that an experience, such as media enjoyment, can be viewed as the source of flow states, which are characterized by intense attentional focus, pleasurable feelings, and emotional rewards. This article will argue that in the media context, flow can be viewed as a discrete, energetically optimized, and gratifying experience resulting from a cognitive synchronization of attentional and reward networks under condition of balance between challenge and skill. This concept of flow as a cognitive-synchronization process provides, for the first time, both a theoretical rationale for this concept and a direct measurement of flow states.

https://ocw.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/4824/mod_resource/content/0/ceit706/week3/Weber_TheorizingFlow.pdf

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

Flow Theory in Media Contexts: Advances in Experimental Research

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

Flow Theory in Media Contexts: Advances in Experimental Research