Adolescent videogaming, cognitive development and interactions with gender in the SCAMP cohort

Background There is evidence that non-problematic videogaming, particularly action and first-person shooter gaming, is associated with enhanced cognition in some areas such as attention and spatial cognition. However, many studies to date have been cross-sectional, making it difficult to determine how videogaming influences cognitive development during adolescence. Objectives To investigate whether videogaming habits in early adolescence, including gaming genre, are associated with cognitive development in the prospective Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones (SCAMP). Methods Data on videogaming habits, demographics and cognitive abilities (executive functioning, visual attention, mental rotation and sustained attention) was collected at two timepoints, when participants were age 11-12 (baseline, N= 6590) and 13-15 (follow-up, N= 4976). Multi-level linear regression, adjusted for demographics and baseline cognition, was used to evaluate whether baseline videogaming (hours per week and specific genres) predicted cognitive abilities cross-sectionally and at follow-up. Interaction terms and stratified analyses were used to examine potential gender differences. Results Overall videogaming duration at baseline was not associated with subsequent cognitive development, however playing some specific genres was associated with improved mental rotation (first-person shooter and strategy games) and sustained and visual attention (platform games), and some genres (first-person shooter and roleplayer games) were associated with worse sustained attention. Further, effects were modified by gender, with stratified analyses suggesting detrimental effects of overall gaming on sustained attention in boys, and improvements in visual attention in girls. Conclusions Overall videogaming duration was not consistently associated with cognitive development during early adolescence. However, associations varied according to participant gender and gaming genre, supporting the hypothesis that videogaming should not be considered a homogeneous activity. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between specific gaming experiences and broader screen-time exposure when evaluating potential impacts on adolescent cognitive development and informing public health recommendations.