Effectiveness of multiplayer in brain training games

• Main Author: Poh, Ban Hoe
• Other Authors: Ng Wee Keong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2019
• Subjects: Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computer applications
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78949
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The brain is able to perform cognitive functions in order to learn and adapt. Through neuroplasticity, the brain can improve cognitive functions to better suit to tasks, and this concept is applied in the IT space through the creation of brain training applications. Social cognition plays a huge part in the brain’s cognitive process, however conventional brain training applications do not test the effects of social competition in their training regiments. This experiment aims to verify and validate previous studies on the trainability of several cognitive functions, as well as to investigate if multiplayer can affect the results of brain training applications, through the development of a mobile application containing 12 minigames with both single player and multiplayer game modes. Data will be captured from game sessions performed by players and are stored in a database for processing and compilation. Players are also surveyed at the end of each session, in order to corroborate the results, obtaining the key findings in the report. Working memory, attention, arithmetic skills, visual processing and logical processing are cognitive functions observed to be trainable and are supported by previous studies, whereas reaction time is observed to be untrainable through brain training regiments. Multiplayer greatly affects the results of brain training, with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation found to be a defining factor in potential improvements.