Anyone have any leads on research about board games and your brain? I can find lots and lots on video games and your brain, but nothing on how board games may influence or affect our thinking.
Hello,
I have not seen any research aimed specifically at board games either, but since they are also games (be it video or physical), they fall under some of the general effects games usually have on cognition.
Most boards games are turn-based games. If we refer to other types of board games - like solitaire for instance - then it's a whole different story.
Can you please specify which type of board games you are referring to, for which age group (at least roughly - adults/developed - children/in development), since all these parameters might have very different outcomes.
Thank you
Adults or adolescents, not young children. And as for games, ideally complex strategy games, but pretty much anything involving other people would work. Thanks!
This is indeed a very interesting question. I have some friends that have use board games and (non-digital) RPGs for psychological therapy and content learning. But never directly with cognitive enhancing skills and board games. I would like to stay tuned to the answer of your questions and participate if I can find something about it.
Guido,
1. The author I find most insightful and helpful when trying to understand how/what games (he is talking about video games mostly but many aspects apply to the kind of games you are interested in) is James Paul Gee, you can find his website where he publishes full papers for free, his literature is purely fascinating for those interested in how games/gaming can improve certain aspects of cognition. His website is http://www.jamespaulgee.com/
2. There were many studies conducted on chess players (I would classify chess as a turn-based strategy, competitive board game). Here are some links to some articles about different aspects, maybe it's a good starting point for you to dig in for specific information you want:
A proceedings volume on visual processing information, look at chapter 5 of this volume, here is the link to it:
https://books.google.ro/books?hl=ro&lr=&id=J24-AwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=chess+and+cognition&ots=dsAc9qTCam&sig=AhSP3BdtXWZqsVeH-kNQ7jz9iGw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=chess%20and%20cognition&f=false
Here is an old article from '96 on professional chess players and their memory:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03212414#page-1
Another old book with an cog. psy. perspective on chess players:
Pertti Saariluoma (1995) Chess Players' Thinking: A Cognitive Psychological Approach
Link for the book:
https://books.google.ro/books?hl=ro&lr=&id=ocgMQapGMu4C&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=chess+players&ots=40Nek-tiDx&sig=boinRtgb_0L698TucV7LAG2cSK8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=chess%20players&f=false
Hope it helps you getting started, if you have more questions or if I can help in any way, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Hello Carlos, I would be very interested to see/read - even cite - the findings of your colleagues - what were the exact games they used and how did content acquisition go in comparison with classical instruction with the aim of content acquisition?
Thanks,
Claudiu
I guess it would also be worthwhile to differentiate board game types and plaing cultures here. We had a workshop on boardgame design at our university in Lüneburg/ Germany and invited US and European boardgame designers. The expectations that Americans seem to have in regard to boardgames is different to what European expect from a "good" game. Many prize winning German board game designs are assessed as "boaring", "too complicated", "taking too long to play" when looked at by a US audience. Vice versa, we (sorry, I wanted to say: the average German board game player) often find US games superficial and too easy. Randomness plays a role here. These are just observations from the workshop, one would have to look at it in an empirical way I guess. Best Mathias Fuchs (Leuphana Centre for Digital Cultures)
The definition of "game" as per Huizinga is not specific to a type of game. The involvement of the player in the game, described as "flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, works in any type of game, including board games.
To that, can be added the theory on the effects of quizzing on learning (spaced repetition), which may apply in some type of board games (namely those where players are frequently quized.
Conference Paper Creating a Maritime English Board Game
Hello,
There is an article about the "Effect of Chess Training on Math Problem-Solving Ability of Elementary School Students", written by Rezvani and Fadaee. In its literature review, the effects of chess on many brain abilities have been reviewed as well.
Good Luck.
Real games, with boards and maps, do not call upon the same mental processes, nor do they produce the same results, as video games. It is a mistake to classify the two together for study purposes.
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